Pokémon MD: The Temporal Travesty
by The Eccentric Axolotl
Summary: They say time's considered many things: a relic, a gift, a natural way of life or something beyond that. But what would happen if one would break or steal time? Would the world cease to function? (A fan made version/AU of the MD Time/Darkness/Sky series, with OCs, pokémon from the fifth and sixth generation and in-game dungeons that weren't focused on in the main story.)
1. A Beach at Dusk

**Pokémon MD: The Temporal Travesty.**

 **Chapter 1: A Beach at Dusk**

I woke up with my vision blurry. In addition to a source of light blinding my eyes, I felt significantly smaller then I was supposed to, like half my size?

That wasn't even the worst of my problems. The surface I was laying on was a surface similar to sand. My vision managed to adjust to the lighting and surroundings. Turns out I was on an unfamiliar beach, the climate felt subtropical, which was odd since I was dealing with a cold season, the sun was reflecting an amber colour, indicating the time was around afternoon.

"Oh, you're awake. You feeling okay?" said an unseen voice behind me, which sounded like a young boy.

I turned around and noticed a creature similar to a young lynx, with a thin blue coat and black fur overlapping the rear, tail, and chest. It was weird seeing something so out of place... It looked exactly like a Shinx. Yet the weirder part was the fact it was talking.

"Name's Shinx." The shinx wasn't the only pokémon present, a good amount of krabby were on the beach too, releasing bubbles from their pincers, the bubbles looked like the kind you'd blow out of a bubble wand; in it's own odd way, it gave this area a more relaxing and peaceful vibe to it. "Never seen you around these parts, let alone a mudkip. You new here?"

"Excuse me. What did you just call me?"

"A mudkip, that's what you are, right?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm a human."

I wasn't aware at that point that my entire body had been transformed into a mudkip. It was inexplicable and completely illogical to say the least. Disregarding the fact I felt the fin on my head, the fin-like tail and the three pointed cheeks.

"Ha! Good one. Seriously though, look at your hands."

Instead of having my human hands they were replaced with blue amphibian-like ones, matching those of a mudkip.

My mind was scattered in many places... I wake up. On a beach. In the middle of what I could guess is some fantasy realm, where I find out pokémon are real. "What in the-"

"Hey, I hate to bug you at a time like this but I need your help with something and I can't do it by myself," the shinx said.

"I hope you're aware I need help too right? I don't even know where I am."

"I'll help you out after you help me, please?"

At this point I simply sighed, and agreed to do what he wanted me to do. Besides, I had no choice either way.

"They're in that black, rocky cave on the left, I'll lead the way."

* * *

The cave this shinx… that was named Shinx led me to was just your everyday seaside cave, with a few small rock pools here and there, and moss growing in-between the gaps and cracks of the boulders.

In fact the only notable things I found were a few fossilised pokémon from the likes of kabuto, anorith and lileep, as well as some shellos. Shinx advised me to stay away from them, which just made me… let's say slightly more paranoid than I already was.

"Pardon me for asking, but, I never got to know your name. What was it again?" Shinx asked.

"It's John," I answered.

"Well John, once we get through this I thought of introducing you to my exploration guild."

"Will this guild help me in the position I'm currently in?" I asked.

"They know a thing or tw- quick get down!" Shinx whispered, while ducking down near a giant bolder.

"Why?" I inquired in a quiet tone.

"The two Pokés that stole my stuff are there, right in front."

"You never told me you had a problem involving thieves."

I took a peek at the thieves so I'd know who we were dealing with. Found out it's just a zubat and a koffing, who were browsing through Shinx's stolen bag.

"Can't b'lieve dit was dat easy taking the wimp's 'tuff, the Cheif'll be pleased at what we took," the koffing said (pronouncing some of his words wrong).

"Heh-heh-heh, just makes me laugh even more that we don't even have hands."

"Wow… just wow," I commented.

"You don't have to be a jerk about it," Shinx responded.

"Calm down, I was just joking around, and don't worry I'll negotiate with them. If that doesn't work…"

"Please don't take them on by yourself."

"Well unless you're going to help I don't have a choice. But if you will help me, you could electrocute that koffing if he releases his gases, I myself will hit the zubat with that rock over my left if I have to."

"I don't know any electric-type moves."

"Do you know how to light a fire?" I asked him.

"Eh, sort of," He replied.

"Then that'll do just fine, after I shout, 'now', you'll get those two sticks on your right, set them on fire and-"

"I know what to do, just be careful."

"Can't guarantee anything, just light those sticks; I don't want to be put in a situation where you haven't actually lit them."

"I'm lighting them right now, just go." He quietly yet harshly announced.

I calmly walked over to the poison-typed duo, but before I could say anything. They gave me this failed attempt at a death stare, and the koffing started to threaten me:

"Whoa-ho-ho ya got a lot of nerve, standing here punk, move any furt'er an' you'll face the w'ath of t'am skull!"

I take it these pokémon are some wannabe thugs, hopefully nothing too threatning. "Who?" I simply asked.

"Hey Koffs look, he's getting smart with us. Let's teach him a lesson."

"Let's give 'im da Poison Gas!" the koffing shouted, while expelling it.

I messed up big time. The duo got offended, and I didn't mean it like that, leaving me no choice but to…

"Shinx: now!" I commanded.

After hearing my command, Shinx threw one of the flaming sticks which arched over me and hit the floor underneath the koffing, he looked at in in disbelief and burst into spontaneous laughter… until the fire itself ignited his own gas and caused an explosion which knocked out the koffing as well as the zubat. Luckily for me, I (somehow) didn't get hit by it or any flying debris; I took a mental note to myself to take cover next time I do something as dangerous as that. Maybe leave behind a picture of me with _'To my biggest fan'_ written on it.

"Oh Lord Arceus I can't believe that worked!" exclaimed Shinx.

"Surprised much?" I responded.

"I'm gonna take my things and get outta here, you coming?"

"Yeah, sure but I feel bad leaving those two here by themselves."

"Don't be, they deserved it and even if we do help them they'll attack us again."

* * *

After Shinx and I got out the cave, he started showing me what he had in his bag, for some reason.

"You see, the reason why I wanted you to come with me in that cave, is because I was in a rush and you were the only poké around, and I really didn't want them to take this. It's called a relic fragment."

This object Shinx showed me was a stone. It was shaped like an irregular hemisphere with the flat top showing a symbol of what looked like a sun, with a bull's-eye in the middle. Followed by but what looked like a Shepard cane (four of them on each side of the bull's-eye outer circle) and something resembling four wings forming an X shape (one on each side of the Shepard cane).

"You figured out what it means yet?" I asked.

"No but I think it reminds me of something peaceful."

"Really? I just took a random guess and thought it resembled a sun or something historic. Then again, somethings do have a lot of depth to them upon analysis."

"It's got to be more than that." Shinx said "Yet the strange thing is I've had it for as long as I can remember but, I don't remember ever finding it."

"So… when do I meet this `guild'?"

"Right now, I'll show you the way." I'm taking a lot of risks trusting this kid, but he seemed innocent enough. After all, he's probably my best chance at knowing how this world works.

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **.First off, I don't own any rights included in this fan fiction (Nintendo and Chunsoft do).**

 **.Secondly, I'd like to give a big thank-you to my English teacher (who for reasons will remain anonymous). Without him, this fan fiction wouldn't even be as remotely close to how grammatically accurate it is at this current state.**

 **.And yes, I self-inserted myself. Judge to your heart's content.**


	2. A Guild and An Apprenticeship

**Chapter 2: A Guild and an Apprenticeship**

I followed Shinx while climbing up a flight of stairs, which apparently led to this 'guild'. Formerly being a human, I was trying to walk on my two back/hind legs. Shinx, of course, gave me a look of confusion.

"Why are you doing that?" Shinx asked with his face stern yet dumbfounded at the same time. "You look ridiculous."

"I told you, before I washed up on that shore... Or was I simply unconscious? Anyway, I used to be a human, and my memories are still bright as a bell, so if that's not evidence for me telling the truth then I don't know what is."

"You just look...weird doing it, and if you're gonna try and walk on two legs, don't do it on stairs." Shinx advised, to which I went back to walking on all fours.

"Yeah...My brain told me not to do it but I disobeyed it," I jokingly replied. "Even though I do technically control it so..."

"Everyone controls their brain, silly," Shinx replied, hinting a barely audible laugh in his sentence.

"Not if you're infested by particular parasites. And I'm sure that applies to parasects as well."

"What do you mean by that?" Shinx naively asked. "Is that why paras aren't allowed to evolve?"

"I'll tell you when you're old enough to accept the dark ways of life," I told him.

"I'm eleven! I'm not a little kid anymore!" Shinx exclaimed in his own defence.

"That's still pretty young, you're barely a preteen. In my world, most boys your age would often use all the profanity they knew on their game-consoles. They'd even make discomfiting comments or statements about your mum, despite not even seeing or knowing them."

"What's a game console?" Shinx asked.

"Never mind, it would be too complicated to explain," I replied, giving up answering his questions of curiosity, mostly because it was me talking about random, off-topic gibberish, which was often one of my bad habits.

* * *

Once reaching the top, there was a huge tent of what looked like a wigglytuff (the head to the chest) with an arch-shaped entrance on the front, which seemed locked.

"Now just step on this grate here, and they'll let us in," Shinx explained.

The very moment I walked on the grate, a loud shouting voice came out of it making me jump in the process:

"WHOSE FOOTPRINT IS THAT!?" The high-frequency voice echoed through the grate. It sounded like he was from the underworld of some sort.

"I don't know, a wooper? A palpitoad?" said a different and much quieter voice in comparison. This one also being male, but sounded like someone the same age as Shinx.

"COME ON, THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A PALPITOAD!"

"Have you ever had any mudkips in this place, like at all?" I asked Shinx.

"Thank you, sir, for identifying yourself; you can now enter!" said the latter gatekeeper, joyfully, obviously overhearing my question.

After the gates opened Shinx directed me through, though he didn't even need to, as the layout of the building was pretty simple, with the first floor only having a one-way ladder.

As any natural instincts would go, I went down the ladder, leading me to second floor, which had an oblong layout with an odd amount of ivy and vines finding their way through any tiny gaps in the building. Aside from technically being underground the temperature felt very controlled and the guild's interior had a much more natural look than those of a modern building.

Some notable features of the building were two bulletin boards on the back of the walls, both being on a different side of the other. The bulletin board on the left was labelled: "Civilian assistance", the other: "Wanted criminals".

"Welcome to the Guild, John. Here we help fight crime, rescue missing and lost Pokémon, find treasure, as well as things others have lost," Shinx said. "When we go downstairs I'll introduce you to the Guild Master himself: Wigglytuff."

When descending from the second floor to the third, Shinx guided me to a door… that had a wigglytuff painted on it.

"May we come in?" Shinx asked.

"You must use the secret knock!" chimed a childish voice similar to something you hear from those insanely happy cartoon characters.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you must. For I shall know you're not an imposterrr!" the voice cheerfully implied, whilst putting emphasis on the "r" sound.

After doing the secret knock, the sound of five or six individual locks could be heard disengaging behind the door. Upon seeing the doorknob turn, the door itself wasn't pulled back by whoever was on the other side, instead it just stood there.

"So…do I let myself in?" I asked Shinx.

"What do you think?" Shinx answered rhetorically.

The Guild Master's room was surprisingly big, being a room with a slightly, smaller-than-average door. It had a circular layout with a small window on the left, two bowl-shaped fireplaces supported by three steel poles, arranged triangularly with the ends criss-crossing each other, one fireplace being positioned on the left, the other on the right.

A load of chests filled with what looked like jewels and other valuable treasures placed at the back. The pudgy, pink Guild Master stood with his back turned, facing the chests instead of us.

"Err…Hello?" I said, trying to get the attention of the Guild Master.

A few seconds passed after hearing these words. The Guild master quickly turned around, possibly trying to do that dramatic trope of where someone would have their backs turned and slowly face the person's perspective.

"Hi!" he said in the jolliest yet most simplistic manner. "Wait, wait, wait. You didn't do the secret knock did you? That must mean one thing: an intruder!" he exclaimed.

"No, no, he's with me Guild Master," Shinx pointed out hastily.

"Oh. But that still doesn't mean he can step into my territory without using the secret knock. However, the first one's free, he didn't know. Anyhow, what'd you want to tell me?"

"Well as you can see I've finally found a partner for my adventures and I would like him to be a part of our guild. That's alright with you, isn't it?" he asked, looking at me.

"Well I didn't say anything close to that but sure, why not!? But I could do with some physical training so I can have a chance against one-to-one." I replied.

"No probs, I just need to register you as an official member/apprentice, and you'll be able to explore to your heart's content! Just get back before night," Wigglytuff replied with his ditsy nature.

"Will I need any specific details?"

"Nope, all that needs to be done is write your name down on the list of all the members. Also I'm gonna need your name."

"John, j-o-h-n"

"Great! Now just give me a sec… registering…registering... Registered.

"Glad to have you on board, John," Shinx added.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"Quite the opposite actually John, we haven't seen any apprentices since Shinx and Bidoof," Wigglytuff stated.

"I'll introduce John to the rest of the guild, so he'll know who everyone is and what they do."

"Wait, before you do that. I think it'll be worth telling John our rules first."

"If you must" I added.

"RULE NUMBER ONE: Don't shirk work!

"RULE NUMBER TWO: Run away and pay!

"RULE NUMBER THREE: Smiles go for miles!

"RULE NUMBER FOUR: Once choosing a job on your team's list, take that job! That step can't be missed!

"RULE NUMBER FIVE: Restock your supplies and rations before heading out on explorations!

"RULE NUMBER SIX: Before you explore, try to think about the moves you should link!

"RULE NUMBER SEVEN: While exploring, don't panic! Stay cool and never manic!

"RULE NUMBER EIGHT: Helping all Pokémon in need is an explorer's duty, indeed!

"RULE NUMBER NINE: Do lots of jobs! That's truly the key! You'll reach the gold rank. Just wait and see!

"And lastly, RULE NUMBER TEN: The money you earn is shared with the guild! That's the way our friendship will build!

"With that in mind, I hope you'll make our guild just a little bit better. Oh, I nearly forgot, here have this."

The item Wigglytuff gave me looked some sort of badge or emblem. It kind of looked like a winged Pokéball all in beige, with the exception of a pink pearl in the middle of it.

"It's very important that you have that. Without it you'll have no identification whatsoever and you don't want that now do we?"

* * *

 **Author's notes:**

 **.In case you're wondering. No there won't be any pokémon from the seventh generation/Sun and Moon games included in this fanfic (this applies to some of the planned sequels). But however, I will put mega-evolutions and Z-moves.**


	3. The Gist of It

**Chapter 3: The Gist of it**

It was close to midnight when I was being registered as a junior apprentice, and the first job that was on my imaginary checklist, was meeting the rest of the guild; Shinx was still guiding me around.

"If you follow me on our right, I'll take you to the hallway that leads to our bedrooms. Our one is at the far end, ignore the two rooms on the left and right as those are the women's and men's bedrooms in that order."

The bedroom Shinx and I had was a normal room with two beds, one of them without the sheets and bedcover, separated from one-another and a desk that was about sixty centimetres away from what I guessed was Shinx's bed. The desk itself just had a few knick-knacks and action figures made of clay (a particular one that caught my eye was a blastoise on a surfboard wearing sunglasses).

"Those are mine," Shinx said.

"I figured and don't worry, I won't touch them."

"Oh, and don't worry about the missing sheets, Chimecho will sort that out for you."

"What does Chimecho do here?"

"She does the cooking and laundry, and before you ask: yes. Everyone apprenticed here does a job and some sort of exploring.

"Now one thing at a time I'll show you the dining room, which is called the 'mess hall', don't ask why."

The mess hall was located on the very right of the guild's main room (third floor). In the very centre was an oval shaped table made of oak for thirteen people, or Pokés/Pokémon as someone here would call it.

"I believe that's it really. All that's left is the second floor, but you've already been there."

"Apologies for interrupting but I couldn't help myself from meeting the latest member of our fellow community," Said a voice from behind, I turned around and noticed it belonged to a chatot. Sophistication could be heard in his voice. He hopped to our direction, with a smile of inquisitiveness.

"You must be a member of the guild. I'm John, and you are…?"

"Chatot. Co-leader of the guild, as well as exploration partner and best friend of Wigglytuff." He greeted, while explaining his position in the guild. He seemed like a Pokémon with words of wisdom, showing pride whilst doing so. "As a new member of the guild, I'm positive you'll be looking forward to seeing the rest of the guild. Unfortunately though, they're currently doing their respective duties. Regardless, you'll see them before sunrise," Chatot informed me.

"So…anything filler-free I could do to pass the time?" I joked.

"Filler-free?! Boy. Everything you do in this guild IS NOT 'filler-free'! You'll be learning, training and helping others out. I repeat: everything you do will have some meaning to it either one way or another. Have I made myself clear?" he said sternly.

"Yes sir," I nervously responded.

While hearing my reaction, Chatot just couldn't help but laugh (it sort of sounded like he was squawking at the same time) "It's always Pokémon like you that are the easiest to tease, disregarding the fact I did actually want you to take everything I spoke of in consideration." He exhaled heavily after speaking. "Next time however, I won't be as lenient."

"How did you know I was that kind of pers— Pokémon?"

"I could tell upon examination. But… judging upon examination, I bet you're one of those who prefer brains over brawn. Am I correct?"

"Actually, yes I am."

"Ahh…I see, nevertheless, I can appreciate one with a criteria like that. Now, if Shinx hasn't told you yet; there are a plethora of extra and/or free jobs for you to choose from, that's if you'd like to participate."

"Do you have anything related to growing a garden? Two school-years of experience right here."

"Indeed we do. If anything we need someone to do a job like that. After all it's not easy for Sunflora to do it by herself. Especially since it's our only food source."

"Then I'm in!" I said confidently.

"Great! I'm sure you two will get along just fine."

"Hey, hey! Just came back from our exploration!" An overjoyed voice from the other room reported.

"Corphish, don't interrupt me when I'm speaking with a new apprentice!" Chatot snapped.

"A new apprentice you say? Mind if we can introduce ourselves to him?" Corphish asked.

Chatot breathed a sigh of annoyance: "If you must."

"Hey, there I'm Corphish!" he said, scuttling over to me and holding out his open, ellipsoid shaped pincers, expecting a handshake. Or in a technicality, a pincer-shake?

I held out my paw in response and could feel his pincers slowly digging into it, big mistake I know, but I didn't want to come off as rude. His tight grip left a vague, light-red marking on my paw.

Corphish wasn't the only one who came back from their expedition. A bidoof and a croagunk...Who are also referred to by their pokémon names returned. This information basically confirmed that all the pokémon that live in this region, share the name of the actual pokémon they are.

"By golly! I'd thought we'd never see a new apprentice this soon yup, yup! I'm Bidoof." His reflective, white, bucked teeth glimmered greatly, in contrast to his brown, thick-coated fur.

"Okay everybody, I think we've given John a much bigger welcome then we needed to. Let's all wait for Sunflora's and Chimecho's arrival in the mess hall." Chatot ordered.

The voice of Wigglytuff could be heard in the main room, shouting down from a hole with a vine below: "Diglett, Dugtrio, Loudred! You're done for today! Come in the mess hall with us!"

* * *

A few minutes passed here and there, it was pretty obvious most of the guild got impatient (Chatot and Wigglytuff were exceptions). Bidoof, who was sitting next to me, had so many questions to ask. He was a nice guy and all he just a talked a bit too much. Then again….

"You ever took on any pokémon, or explored a dungeon before?"

"Not really, well aside from exploring that one cave near the beach, and helping Shinx beat a koffing and zubat by being a distraction. I've never went full-on force against any pokémon, yet. And I want to keep it that way, even though I know I won't be able to. Have you done anything interesting?"

"Well, I did take on a jirachi by myself, and got a granted wish yup, yup."

A jirachi, seriously!? Yeah my thoughts exactly. As in the he must be lying kind of way, a jirachi is part steel type, let alone a legendary pokémon with a base stat total of six hundred (one hundred in each stat). Not to mention having one of the most hated, yet praised abilities: serene grace. And from what I heard Bidoof's a rookie, it has nothing to do with the fact that he's "just a bidoof".

"Trust me, I ain't lyin'."

The flow of time just felt slower then it should've but before I knew it, Sunflora and Chimecho finally arrived erasing everyone's boredom.

"UGH, IT'S ABOUT TIME! WHAT TOOK YOU GIRLS SO LONG?!" Loudred asked.

"Loudred, do you have to be so irritable?" Sunflora complained glumly.

"Lighten up Sunflora, this isn't like you. You're always so bright and enthusiastic." Wigglytuff pointed out.

Sunflora released a groan of exhaustion: "I know, it's just gardening by myself has been so stressful."

"Stress no more!" Chatot added. "Our new apprentice claims to specialize in gardening."

"Hi," I greeted while waving my arm at her.

"Oh my gosh, finally! Words can't describe of how grateful I am right now!" Sunflora beamed, displaying a sudden change of mood.

"Meh, don't think anything of it," I replied.

"No, no, it's a miracle. You won't believe how much I can thank you!"

"ALIGHT SUNFLORA YOU'VE PROVED YOUR POINT, NOW CAN YOU SIT DOWN! MY STOMACH CAN'T HANDLE THIS TORTURE ANYMORE!" Loudred demanded. His voice filled the room, slight rattling could be felt when his tempo and vocal noise rose high enough.

We all sat down at the table and ate a variety of foods. Proteins and meat weren't there, though it was pretty easy to see why.

"So, John, what's your story?" Bidoof asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Your story, everyone here has one yup, yup." The moment Bidoof asked about this, the whole guild turned their attention to me... What do I even tell them?

"Well, this may shock you, or you'd probably think I'm lying or maybe crazy but, but I wasn't always a mudkip."

"What d'ya mean by that?" Bidoof responded

"Well, it's a long story but I'll make it short: I was formerly a human on a different planet and possibly dimension: Earth!

"What's it like on Earth you may ask yourself? Well think of it like this world, except instead of Pokémon, we have animals and instead of them being dominant, it's us humans who are dominant.

"On Earth I used to live on the countryside with horses, ducks and chickens. Think of them as ponytas without the fiery mane, duckletts that don't have their water type moves, and torchics without the fire-breathing and karate skills after evolution, respectively. In-fact evolution is more of a species changing over a long period of time and focuses on mutation, rather than one individual gaining permanent transformation."

"WE'RE HERE FOR YOUR BACKSTORY! NOT SCIENCE!" Loudred shouted.

"-So in conclusion, I just had a regular life. And now... Well I'm stuck here, for no apparent reason."

The whole room went into awkward silence for a brief amount of time. Shinx, Wigglytuff and Chatot were left fascinated; Bidoof, Sunflora, Corphish and Chimecho remained silent; everyone else, however, released uncontrollable fits of laughter (Loudred even fell out his own chair).

"THAT'S THE BEST ONE I'VE HEARD SO FAR!" Loudred commented wiping a small tear of his right eye with his index finger.

"Ha! You really had us there, new guy!" exclaimed Diglett.

"Yeah… I knew most of you wouldn't believe me," I admitted, while embarrassed.

"Silence!" Chatot commanded. "Rest assured I believe John's telling the truth."

"WHAT MAKES YOU SO SURE?!" Loudred asked while still struggling to recover from his outburst.

"He's got a name not native to here. He knows a lot about his own dimension. He's even used a slang word only that a human would use: Filler: when something in fiction continuously drags on. Don't believe me? I got a master's degree in inter-dimensional studies," Chatot replied with a smug face to counteract the comeback.

"SO! HE COULD'VE ALSO GOT A MASTER'S DEGREE IN THAT LESSON, HE'S MESSING WITH OUR HEADS!" Loudred remarked whilst finally recovering from his outburst of overwhelming laughter.

I personally couldn't be bothered to argue anymore I just carried on eating my plate until I was done. I released a huge gaping yawn: "I think that's enough for me, I'm hitting the hay."

"You're finished already? You don't want to stay here for longer?" Chimecho asked.

"Nah, I think I think I've stayed as long as possible. After all I don't want to wake up tired on the first day and make a bad impression, now do I?"

"He has a point. I think I'll have a nice rest myself," Shinx added.

* * *

I made my way to the bedrooms and came across the room Shinx and I were sharing, and to my surprise the bed was already done. I sat myself on it, the bed was surprisingly comfortable, it was literally one of those beds you could sink your entire body into.

"Ahh…this brings me back so many memories from Belgium."

"What's Belgium?" Shinx asked.

"Oh, er…It's a country on Earth, very nice place to stay."

"So, is it true that you were a human?"

"Would you believe me if I said yes?"

"Of course I would."

"Then you just answered your own question."

"I'm sorry about everyone else, not taking you seriously about well, y'know."

"You think I'm bothered by that? What really bothers me, and until now quite scares me is: will I ever be back in my world? Or am I just doomed to stay here for the rest of my life? Will I ever see my family, my friends, my home or heck even an animal ever again? Was there a reason for me being here? What am I supposed to do with my life in this new universe? That's what bothers me most." I admitted.

"Don't worry pal, I'm sure we'll find a way. I mean life for me wasn't that easy either." Shinx reassured. "And look at me now; I'm part of the guild, and this may surprise you but I've been here since I was a cub."

"How did that happen then? Were you a baby in a basket left by a closed door?" I guessed in a joking manner.

"Yes, I was actually. That's what Chatot and Wigglytuff told me. Back then it was me and those two, as well as a loppuny, a gardevoir and a medicham. They called themselves "Team Charm." They graduated when earning the gold rank. Since then they've inspired many pokémon, including me, to become a part of the guild."

"Welp, I think that's enough talking for me I'm going to sleep now, night!"

"Night John."


	4. All In A Day's Work

**Chapter 4: All in a Day's Work.**

My entire subconscious faded in slumber and I was greeted by a grey, hazy background. At the very least, two ominous figures could be seen. The only problem was I couldn't make out who or what they were since they were blurred and cloudy.

" _H-help, help me!"_ one of them shouted. Their voice was too faded and distorted to hear properly but upon listening to it further. It sounded like an infant, I couldn't figure out the gender though. _"Don't hurt me, please!"_

" _If you carry on with this behaviour, there'll be big trouble!"_ The other voice shouted, this one sounding much like a male adult, it sounded like he was threatening the other figure.

Everything started turning whiter and whiter, the hazy background becoming more blurred out as time passed. Eventually I woke up. _'Just a bad dream_ ' I thought to myself, yet the weird thing was, is that it felt like I was actually there, yet I was not, and rather it being a dream, it felt like an event or an occurrence that's going to happen. I could feel the sun rays shining on my back daydreaming about just what happened until...

"GET UP ALREADY! IT'S MORNING!" shouted none other than Loudred. I immediately jumped out of my skin, I swore I almost had a heart attack.

"I'm one step ahead of you mate," I replied pressing my paws against my temples.

"Arghh. My ears," Shinx moaned weakly.

"GET UP NOW! YOU WON'T WANNA BE LATE FOR THE MORNING BRIEFING, DO YOU!?"

"Ughh…I'm up, I'm up, geez," moaned Shinx once again.

"GOOD!" exclaimed Loudred before stomping out the bedroom.

"Morning John," said Shinx.

"Morning Shinx," I said in agony, trying to recover from the noise which I'm pretty sure was over one-hundred and twenty decibels.

"You feeling okay John? I mean aside from hearing the loud noises, you look a bit pale."

"Just a bad dream, now let's move it before we hear Loudred shout again."

"YOU GUYS COMING OR NOT?!"

"See what I mean." I added whilst making our way to the main room, lining up with the rest of the guild in an assembly like layout. Chatot was facing all of us, waiting for Wigglytuff's arrival. The door to his room was locked.

"What are we supposed to be doing here?" I whispered to Shinx.

"Doing the morning briefing, all you got to do is repeat the first three guild rules."

"Huh, okay that'll be easy."

"You remembered them right?"

"I'll just say the words after the guild, hopefully he won't even notice."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"I see everyone's present, without further ado, I'll conduct our morning address."

"Wigglytuff, Wigglytuff! The guild is in full attendance!"

The door opened and Wigglytuff came in with his eyes wide open. Yet something didn't seem right his eyes were wide open, but he was snorting and snoring, not to mention his pupils were as small as chickpeas.

"Tut, he's doing that thing again where he sleeps with his eyes open," Diglett complained.

"Ermm…GUILDMASTER?! HELLO!? Loudred sighed in annoyance, placing his right palm on his forehead, while simultaneously shaking his head, displeased by his guild master's abnormal behaviour.

"Hush!" Chatot scowled, "Your voice is way too loud to contend with!"

To make things even worse he was making these groaning sounds that made him sound like the undead.

"Guild master, the entire guild is gathered around for our morning cheers," said Chatot,

This was just really, really creepy, and I know for a fact it's possible to sleep without your eyelids fully closed, but this was ridiculous! Good thing it only lasted a while, as his near molecular pupils started to resize back to the way they should've, albeit at a very fast rate.

"Hey, everybody! Time for another day of exploring! But first we must do our morning cheers: A one, a two, a one, two, three, four:

Everyone sang their cheers in unison. Me on the other hand, I just cheered a few seconds after.

"NUMBER ONE: DON'T SHIRK WORK!"

"NUMBER TWO: RUN AWAY AND PAY!"

"NUMBER THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

"Okay pokémon let's get to work!" Chatot announced.

"HORRAY!" everyone, aside from me shouted in glee and went to do their respective businesses.

"You two, over here!" Chatot ordered "Since one of you is a newcomer and Shinx is still a bit of a rookie I thought I might start you off with something small. Follow me." Chatot lead us to the second room and showed us the bulletin boards, directing us to the one on the left.

"If Shinx told you about the bulletin boards, in which see he most likely did; you can see numerous jobs for you to apply. These jobs in particular are labelled civilian assistance, also something I'm sure Shinx mentioned. Anyhow without further delay, since both of you are rookies; start with something E or D graded first."

"How about this one?" I inquired. I had a slight sense of deja-vu from this poster, of all of them something told me I should pick this one.

"Ah, I see. Taking a little risk at the D rank," Chatot commented.

"What, the rank? I barely noticed. I just thought helping this azurill find his items was the best one to pick."

"Just to clarify the location you're going to is Mount Bristle. Are you sure you want to go there? There's a lot of poison type pokémon there, and if you get poisoned, it'll be a tough journey."

"If Shinx or I did get poisoned I'll just use antidotes. You have those here in this world don't you?"

"No we don't." Chatot informed. "but we do have pecha berries. I'd recommend stocking a lot of those in your bag."

"No worries I have plenty." Shinx assured.

"Great. Now, Shinx, since John's new around here, I'll trust that you can give him a tour around Treasure Town?"

"You can trust me Chatot," Shinx assured, beaming with confidence.

"Grand. Well good luck apprentices, I've got to do my duty calls. Farewell!" Chatot said descending from the stairwell.

"About the tour?" I asked.

"Just follow me." Shinx replied.

* * *

We were outside the guild and I could feel the breath of outside air making its way through my nostrils

"Whew, finally great to be out in the fresh air," Shinx commented. "Anyways let's start the tour then.

Making our way down the stairway, we returned to the crossroads, which presented itself with a lush green terrain, with the exception of particular pathways which had a dirt terrain. Being a crossroad, it had a four-way path, each of them pointed out in North, West, South and East (the south path led to the beach).

"If you ever want to head out on an adventure just head out on our right, there's a huge variation of dungeons, caves and mountains to explore. Follow me to our left and I'll show you what Treasure Town has to offer."

As I followed Shinx, this town named Treasure Town (silly name I know), was more of a village with booths connecting with the straight paths, which pointed to three directions. Some tents which the civilians live in are accompanied by unlit campfires. At the far back of the village, behind the tents led nothing more than trees.

Shinx pointed to the left with his front paw and explained what this booths were. They were modelled after the pokémon that ran them. "This here in front of us is Duskull's Bank... you store money there 'cause y'know, it's a bank.

"On its far left; you can see Electivire's Move tutoring; you won't be seeing him at the moment, he's gone out somewhere and it might take a while for him to come back. But when he does come back, he'll teach you some awesome moves and he can even link some of them up so you can use them at the same time. Or at least after using the other move, much faster than usual."

Shinx then turned to the right path facing downwards and showed me this building made of stone with a modelled marowak head on it. "This is Marowak's dojo. This building is for pokémon who need help training and learning how to fight. Now let's move on to the last store." Shinx said as he directed me, west of the dirt path.

Not much was different from what I just saw, aside from crossing a small bridge above a thin, shallow stream. The path led one way: left.

"Here is the Kecleon twin's store. This is where you can buy items like: TMs (technical machines), berries, wonder orbs and special seeds. It's also worth pointing out that you can find shops ran by kecleons in dungeons and mountains too."

One thing worthy to point about one of these kecleon is that one of them was its skin/primary colour was purple and had green head-stripes instead of yellow ones. The other one was just a regular kecleon with green skin and the previously mentioned yellow head-stripes, both of the kecleons had red zig-zag patterns around their waist.

"Greetings new traveller," said the green kecleon who was referring to me.

"Have you visited our shop to check out our wares?" the purple kecleon asked, it was like they were finishing each other's sentences.

"Oh, Shinx was just touring me around the place I never came to buy anything."

"Oh," the green kecleon simply replied. Disappointment can easily be seen on his face.

"Well that's disappointing," The purple one stated. "We had a super sale for throwing items: Only half-price," he mentioned.

"What's the best you have?" Shinx asked.

"We have iron thorns," answered the green kecleon. They seem to speak in a pattern where the green kecleon talks and then the purple one after.

"They're perfect for close-quarters combat and for striking your foes at a distance."

"And they're only two-thousand and three-hundred poké." It seemed a little high at first, but then it came to my awareness that poké (the currency) was presented in the same way as Japan's yen.

"Do you think I should buy them?" Shinx asked me.

"It's your money. Do what you want with it."

"Yeah, I'll buy 'em," Shinx told the kecleons.

"We thank you for your patronage." The kecleons said in unison.

"Hello, Mister Kecleons." said the voice of a young azurill, who came out of nowhere.

"Ahh, if it isn't Marill's brother, Azurill. What can I do for you?" The green kecleon asked.

"My big brother and Mister Drowzee are going to help me on an exploration. Do you have oran berries?"

"As a matter of fact we do. It'll be nine-hundred poké." The green kecleon requested.

"Here you go."

Like with the poster, I got some weird Déja-vu from this azurill, and I could've sworn I heard his voice before. He started turning to our direction.

"Hi Mister Shinx. Is this your new exploration partner?"

"Yes, I'm his new apprentice. The name's John." I replied.

"Well, hello Mister John, I'd give you a handshake, but I haven't evolved and grown hands like my bigger brother yet."

"Azurill! Are you coming?" Said the voice of an approaching Marill.

"Wait, Azurill, before you go, the place you said you'd be exploring. Is it Mount Bristle?"

"Yes it is, why did you ask?"

"Shinx and I, just so coincidentally, found your report about your missing items. If you want we could join you."

"Sure, I'd love that. My brother always said: 'the more the merrier'."

I was glad Azurill agreed to have us accompany him, especially since it's dangerous for someone his age to go out in the wilderness without guidance.

"Brother, Mister Drowzee: Shinx and his new partner are going to help us find my missing items."

The more and more I interacted with this group, the more my vision whitened, until it actually started forming something which I couldn't even describe. Was it a vision, a hallucination perhaps?

The blurry figure I saw last night, it appeared again, the voice became much clearer and it started revealing itself: _**"H-Help me! Don't hurt me, please!"**_ The shouting voice in my dream last night, it was Azurill's, but what about the other one? The other figure blurred out upon talking: It was the drowzee's voice:

" _ **If you carry on with this behaviour, there'll be big trouble!"**_

 _ **"N-No! Don't hurt me! Big brother, anyone?! Help!"**_ Azurill was just standing there, defenceless; the terrain they were standing on was mountainous. It was definitely Mt Bristle. No doubt. _'What does Drowzee want with him?'_ I thought to myself. The vision only lasted so long, as it slowly faded away, much like the other vision I had.

"John? Hello, Mysticia to John?" I heard someone say, not knowing that Mysticia's the region. My subconscious finally snapped back into reality, thanks to Shinx.

"That's a relief, I thought you were paralysed or something. Either way are you coming with us or not?" Drowzee asked in a demanding yet polite manner.

"Yeah, we're coming, lead the way, since I have no idea where Mount Bristle is."

"Alright then, off we ventu-"

"Hold on," I interrupted. "Are you sure we should take the kids with us, not just because they technically have a type disadvantage, but they're also just, well… kids."

"Look, they may be young but they've got experience. I don't feel any better about it than you do, but they volunteered, and I'll keep a close eye on them. I'd think you would as well." We headed off to Mount Bristle, and not once did I take my eyes off this drowzee. I don't trust him.

* * *

 _'Getting this job done a Mount Bristle's gonna be harder now, all thanks to them two. Maybe I could lose them on the way, make it look like an accident. I just hope they're not onto me. Calm down Drowzee, don't make yourself suspicious, if you be patient and play your cards right, you'll succeed. After all, the more steps we take, the further we get there. The further we get, the better I'll think of a plan.'_

* * *

We've arrived at Mt Bristle. So far it's been nothing but dusty, gravel flooring, rocks and giant boulders which a lot of geodudes camouflaged themselves with. Their combat skills were extremely predictable, using head-on force and tackle, which I easily took on with water gun (a move I oh, so conveniently learned) or throwing small rocks which Drowzee easily threw back with his telekinesis.

Speaking of Drowzee, the more we advanced the less I trusted him (albeit I didn't trust him from the beginning), still looking as suspicious as he was when Shinx and I first met him. Although he did a good job defending the team from poison-typed pokémon, like I hoped he would. Just by looking at his skills, I can easily tell his battle style; focusing more on ranged/special attacks rather than physical combat. However the more he pelted off these pokémon; the tougher he started looking and possibly becoming. Experience points may be a thing here? I don't know. Either way, I better not get caught off-guard

Of course being on a mountain and all; we just so happen to find a batch of items and gear.

"Salvage whatever you can find, you might need it for later," Drowzee suggested. He better not try anything.

* * *

'Perfect. It appears I have them distracted. Now, I just need to find a way to use these warp seeds to my advantage, yet still make it look like an accident. Sure hope they'll actually warp them somewhere far enough.'

*rustle*, *rustle*,

 _'What's in that bush behind the duo?'_

"Did anyone else hear the bush shake? I think something's behind it." _'Looks like Shinx's stated the obvious, both him and his partner are aware of it. Okay now, this is what you've been waiting for'_

"Stand back I'm gonna flush them out!" _'They haven't even noticed I'm using the wrong seed, this is going great! Might be a pathetic excuse of an 'accident' but oh, well they may not even realise."_

"I'm throwing the seed no—Arghh get off me!" _'Where did this starly come from? It doesn't matter; it'll just work in my favour.'_

"Get 'em boys." _'Ha. This is working better than I thought it would, now that a flock of starlys that were hiding behind the shrub are also attacking Shinx and his acquaintance. They won't even see it coming.'_

* * *

The starlys' talons may be tough but disposing of them was not a problem, thanks to Shinx learning thunder-shock (it should be called lightning-shock, but whatever), wiping them all out in an instant. On the other hand; Drowzee's currently struggling to get one starly that's attacking him off. Strangely enough, it doesn't even look like he's trying. Marill and Azurill stood still in their position, not knowing what to do.

"I'm going to thunder-shock that starly!" Shinx announced.

"Don't! You might hit Drowzee!" Shinx stopped the flow of electric around his body, once he heard me. ' _Why oh, why did I say that?!'_

Something didn't seem right; either Drowzee's terrible in physical combat, or his putting on an act. I knew for a fact he knows some sort of psychic attack, so why isn't he using it?

"Grr! Get off me!" He ordered in frustration.

Of course instead of asking myself questions, I should've done something. The seed that's in his hand he threw as some kind of 'last resort', but guess what? It didn't hit the starly, it hit us two. The seed released some sort of powder or steam, and before I could react to it, Shinx and I were in a different part of the mountain, no sign of Azurill, Drowzee or Marill in sight.

"What happened?" Shinx asked.

"Must've been that seed Drowzee threw."

"Why would he throw a seed that would warp someone if he was just going to flush something out?"

"My thoughts exactly. Except, not "why" make the stupid decision, but why would someone want to make that decision."

"What are you even talking about?" Shinx asked, confused.

"You haven't even noticed how suspicious he's been acting? The very moment we decided to help them, Drowzee made this face as if he wanted to get rid of us. But why? And if we don't hurry now, something bad might happen."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. We should stop having conversations and get going!" From this point on, I took a mental note to myself not to put my guard. Good Arceus I feel like an idiot!

"Well, don't just go rushing off. You know when Drowzee told us to salvage whatever we could find? I just so happened to come across some x-ray specs, there's a mini map inside them, which tells us where we are and what other pokémon are around. With it I can see where we just teleported from, and where Azurill, Marill and Drowzee left of. We can still catch up. Just follow me and stop panicking."

* * *

 _'With the two burdens gone; I just need to find a way to get rid of Marill. This one's gonna be slightly harder... or not. Depends, I guess. Either way, he needs to go.'_ "Stay close kids, now that we've lost Shinx and his friend, it's just us three, which means it's gonna get tough around here."

"Should we go find them?" _'As much as I want to get rid of Marill; leaving him to find the others would be stupid, not because it's dangerous but doing so will make me more of a suspect than I'm already am, even before this whole trip entirely.'_

"No. We go back we'll just waste time and have to fight against more trouble. Shinx and his friend can take care of themselves, I'm positive."

"Hey, mister Drowzee, can I use one of those orbs, these pokémon here frighten me." _'Hmm…Maybe I should give him an escape orb. He'll be out of harm's way and my way._

"Here have this one."

"Ok. Thanks mister Drowzee!" _'I knew he wouldn't be able to tell orbs by their difference. He's not even noticed the tiny yellow core it has compared to the other orbs.'_

"'Oi, broth look: that m'aa'rill has got some goods for us to swipe" _'What is that doduo up two? I can tell that one of the right head disagrees with their companion.'_

"Just coz our heads are on the same body doesn't mean we can force each other into doing what the other wants!" _'What's with their accents? Never mind, they'll just run up to Marill, he'll use the escape orb thinking it was something else, and I take on this doduo by myself and take what they have.'_

"Charge!" 'They're running directly at us, or at least one of them is trying to. The right head's struggling to control the other's actions.'

"No broth! Stop it! I don't want you forcing our body into doing something you want to do that I don't!"

"I don't care, I'm doing it anyway!" _'Such nerve. A bit thick in the head though.'_

"Mister Drowzee! They're running straight to us!"

"Just use the orb I gave you, it'll stop them."

 _'He's using the orb, just like I wanted him to. The blue beam of light is lifting him right up, and hopefully taking back to his home where he should be, now to take on this doduo.'_

"What's this?! Your bud just so happened to wuss out on us!" _'The right head seems relieved from what may have happened. It won't mean the left will still attempt to go through me or Azurill.'_

"It's for the better, and if you know what'll be good for you, you'll do the same."

"Oh we don't do that here mate. In fact I'll just run at you right now-." _'Hah, I interrupted them with my confusion attack, they're floating off the ground right now.'_

"Bad move. Now you're trapped in my psychic force!" _'Amateurs, where do I throw you err…Into that rock will do just fine.'_

"Oi don't ya even think about it!"

"He already has you twit!" _'hmph, hmph. Seeing these two argue just entertains me, sadly I can't waste time so…'_

"AAAHHH!" _'Their reactions sure are funny. How does controlling a body with two heads even work?'_

"AUGGHH—oof!" _'They're out cold; I can't be bothered to take their stuff, and I'd highly doubt there's anything good in there. I'll just wander on with Azurill'_

"Mister Drowzee, where did my brother go? Will he be alright?"

"Your brother's fine, Azurill, I just gave him the wrong orb, probably for the best since…" _'We've reached my destination finally, now this is where Azurill plays his part.'_

"I was lying to you, as a matter of fact; I've deceived you into my plan."

"What plan?"

"All I ask is one favour, then you're free to go, you see that small hole in the dead end? I've heard there's a thief's collection of rare and valuable treasures inside, unfortunately I'm far too big to fit through it, but you can. All you've got to do is squeeze inside, watch yourself and grab whatever's in there, all of it. But don't pressure yourself, take it one bit at a time. Do you understand?"

"B-but—"

"But what?"

"I don't want to, I want my big brother!" _'What's he doing trying to bounce away?'_

"H-hey, you get back here at once!" _'Pff, good thing I blocked him off, what was he thinking running away by himself.'_ "I told you that you'll be back home once you're done. Sheesh."

"H-help! Help me!" _'What was this kid doing asking for help?! Grr! This is one favour! One simple favour, which I obviously can't pull off by myself.'_ "Don't hurt me, please!"

"If you carry on with this behaviour; there'll be big trouble!" _'Am I really threatening a child?! Well if by any means necessary to get what I want. Do I even have a choice?'_

"N-no don't hurt me! Big brother, anyone?! Help!" _'I knew this would be too easy, why couldn't I just hire somebody else to do it?! And why does it feel like I'm being watched by someone?'_

* * *

Shinx and I hid at a slightly higher point of the mountain. Not too low to be seen, yet not too high to be at a considerably dangerous height. I crouched down on all fours. Azurill and Drowzee have been found, but no sign of Marill though. My guess he got rid of him same way he got rid of us, or at least with a similar method.

"What's the plan?" Shinx asked, I can tell by his face and the fact he's trembling that he's nervous. Must be his first time doing something like this.

"Don't use any projectiles, as he may throw them right back us with his telekinesis. We should both keep our distances too. If we stay too close; he won't have as much to occupy. You've learned thunder wave already haven't you?"

"Yes, why d'you ask?"

"If we paralyse Drowzee; not only will it slow him down by a good amount, but it'll also stop him from attacking, however we can only hope the latter will actually happen."

"Also how do we get down?"

"We're not too high up, just avoid stepping on the steep areas, and make sure Drowzee doesn't see you, I want you to take him by surprise, and more importantly: get Azurill out of harm's way."

"Talking some sense into Drowzee won't work."

"I know it won't, just be ready to pounce when he look like he's about to fight. Oh, and one more thing to add: Drowzee will either have the forewarn ability, or the insomnia ability. Which means either, A; he'll be able to take notice of your most threatening moves before you can even use them, or B; He's got an immunity to all sleep inducing moves and items, so don't bother using any of those items that do so."

"Got it."

"Good, I'll see you down there, after you've gone done, but when I am down don't make eye-contact with me, don't even look at me, and whatever situation I'm in: rescue Azurill first."

I carefully crawled down the hill, going down backwards rather than forward. However I decided to not be hasty as there's a hostage situation, if either Shinx or myself, make one wrong move, then we've screwed up the entire plan. I can get a small glimpse of Shinx with a few marks here and there, mostly from the dust and gravel, but for the most part he seemed fine. I gave him a gesture to imply that I wanted him to wait for my move, in which I distract Drowzee.

I analysed my environment, travelling down the path with the most grass. If my hypothesis correct, a sloped terrain with plantation growing on it is far less steep than one without it. Regardless if my theory's correct or not, I wasn't careful where I was going causing myself to slide across the gravel, trampling down the hill (good thing it was a small one) and straining my left ankle (the one on the hind leg).

"Darn it," I groaned agony, grabbing a hold of my ankle in a fetal position.

"Who's there!? Reveal yourself, NOW!" Great, just great I've attracted the attention of Drowzee and his looking directly at me. "What in heck's name were you doing up there!?" He demanded furiously, I couldn't tell if he was scolding me, or that he's just frustrated to see me follow him after the whole "warp seed incident".

"Trying to find you. After our separation, I lost contact of Shinx, most likely fainted along the journey," I said, lying to him.

"Hmm, I suppose it's not the worst thing to happen in the wild, and to be honest, I'm pretty sure he would've preferred it."

I may be wounded (which wasn't part of the plan), but my plan was actually working; Shinx did as I told him to, he walked up to Azurill, putting his paw in front of his mouth, implying that he wanted him to be quiet. As soon as he got close enough, he held out his badge for some reason, which emitted an odd beam of glitter-yellow light, which shined on Azurill. To make matters even more strange, is that it signified another beam of glitter-yellow light, shining down from the sky and surrounding Azurill. It was like seeing one of those sci-fi movies where someone would get abducted by some weird inter-galactic life-form. Quite a fitting description as it did just that, transporting the kid in a speed rivalling light (minus the abduction part, 'cause that stuff's irrelevant).

Now the big fat con about Shinx pulling this trick or gimmick, is like any sentient being with a decent functioning mind, as well as the ability to see, Drowzee noticed in an instant. He tackled me straight to the ground like some professional rugby player, pushing the left side of my head on the ground, and restrained both of my arms behind my back, which led to a limited amount of free movement for my legs.

"You just had to come along with us didn't you? If you only stayed behind, everything would've been just fine." I may not have been able to see his face, but I could tell from this guy's tone, that he had a lot of held-up anger waiting to burst out like an eruption from a volcano."

"Shinx… I need help, like… right now."

"Oh, no you don't! Not when I'm done with him!" His eyes started glowing, turning magenta and instantaneously put Shinx to sleep. It was no doubt the move hypnosis. "You had it out for me, didn't you? I bet you were the mastermind behind this. In fact I bet you a fair amount you knew who I was, and what I'm capable of, right?!" This nutter had it out for me as much as I had it out for him.

"Not entirely, I must confess though… Taking two young children into uncivilized territory… It's really suspicious if one would think about it."

"All I wanted was Azurill to get help me steal a thief's treasure. His brother was not my concern!"

"That's my next point…Leaving a child in a place like this…What kind of pokémon are you? I even eavesdropped on your conversation…Do you really think it's justified to manipulate a kid into actually helping them, when in reality; you're forcing them into your dirty work!?

"Do you really want to bicker with a criminal?! Yes, I'm a criminal big surprise, isn't it?!"

"I already knew that…Don't believe me. Have a look in my bag."

"Nice try pal, but I know confusion." Of course I questioned why he stated the obvious, and why did he think I was pulling of the "reach into this/take that [insert inanimate object here] trick"? Anyhow he unclipped the bag with his mind and found the wanted poster with his picture on it.

"Found it near a fainted doduo's bag. Oh and I know for a fact it's you and not another drowzee: Same gender, same hometown, the most common place you're seen most is Mount Bristle and maybe the same rough estimate of possible age, it goes on… However it's not too late to turn yourself in, you continue breaking the law; you'll do nothing but delay the inevitable and extend your sentence."

"Do you really think I'm bothered by that? So what if I extend my sentence? I'd rather have that, than lose to a couple of rookies, who couldn't even work their way down a hill!"

Typical criminal motivations, they won't understand the consequences of crime, unless you threw them in prison, and even then, most of them won't even learn.

"And even if you did manage to work your way down, what was your plan?"

You may think when telling him my plan I'd say something to sound cool or edgy, but no (you're practically giving them a heads up which'll make your plan in the first place fail). I pushed my head on the floor, and used water gun, doing this caused the pressurised water to give me a push, and get Drowzee of my back. My head collided with his, the recoil hurt both of us, but he got back on his feet in a matter of seconds. In those brief matters of seconds I retrieved my bag and decided to use items, focusing my battle style on supportive battling, rather than going all out on offence.

"Crafty move there kiddo, it seems I underestimated you, but only to certain degree. In fact…" He snatched my bag from me using confusion, taking out two iron thorns, giving one to me to pick up from the floor, and dumping the bag behind him in a far corner, covered by the shade."

"Let's have a duel! Oh, and just to stop you fighting dirty…" For a brief amount of time his eyes glowed blue, similar to when he used hypnosis. "Don't bother using water gun, I've temporally disabled it." According to what he said, and the way the move was preformed, the move he used was none other than disable. "Hope you're ready, I'm not holding back one bit."

These iron thorns were the size of a dagger, which doesn't help since I'm supposed to be fencing with these things, Drowzee has the advantage by using confusion, which can keep him at a chosen distance and to make things a teeny, tiny bit worse they don't have hand guards. Despite this, I refused defeat and stood on my two hind legs, picked up the iron thorn and poised myself in a fighting stance.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" I asked him.

"Might as well be, I'm going to have so much fun overpowering your inferiority." This guy's getting cocky; maybe I could use this to my advantage: Pretend that I'm weak so he'll toy around even more, get my window of opportunity, waste time so Shinx will wake up from his slumber and strike him.

"Then give it all you got, I'm not backing down!" As expected, he adamantly swished vertically; I however countered it with a horizontal, defensive force. He's quick but really easy to predict, attempting to jab me, multiple times with his levitating thorn, which I easily blocked off and pushed away

"You got some skill there kiddo, but I think it's time for a game changer!" He carried on fencing with me, in addition to him hurtling at full speed, head first, much like a bull. But much like a bull, a matador can easily make the bull's rash nature its own weakness. I got out of the way, caught my enemy's thorn and preformed an 'olay' and slashed him in the back with an offensive left diagonal strike, I did a lot more damage to his skin then I expected or intended. The thick scar displayed on his back wasn't the most beautiful sight to behold, it wasn't fatal though.

"Hmm…It seems you've got some good reflexes. But try and counter this!" He ditched the whole iron thorn game, and started to choose a different object to use. "Perfect!" His eyes were determinedly focused on a massive boulder, I had to react quickly, but what do I do?

"Let this be a lesson to you kiddo, you mess with an outlaw, you'll pay the price." The boulder he had above him was huge; it was approximately five point five metres, cubed (considering in my mudkip body, I was the size of a puppy which made it look even bigger), this is where things got insane; he floated the boulder above me, not even hesitating in the slightest to drop it.

My adrenaline gained a massive boost from the shock of the boulder falling. I managed to get away from it, but the pure weight of the boulder itself, combined with the energy of it plummeting down, shook the very ground we stood on, rippling the gravel and making me fall face first, landing right near Drowzee's feet. This didn't complement my already sprained ankle.

"Pokémon like you don't know when to give up, do they?" Drowzee remarked, giving me a mischievous grin. He started at that boulder again, while still having that same grin on his face. Something wasn't right though, rather than lifting the boulder with his mind, he simply dragged it.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll still be in one piece once you're between the boulder and the wall."

He was planning to crush me, I tried to move but my body denied any movement what so ever. The boulder came rushing to me like a car, I stuck to its flat side, as if I was an insect to a windshield. No movement was possible. I tried using water gun to slow down the speed and impact, despite the fact Drowzee used disable on it, luckily the move wore off, and I spat a beam of water, which pushed me away from the wall (albeit, slightly).

"What? No! You're not going to win this round. I'll make sure of it!" I ignored my surroundings, all of it. My only motive at this moment was not to end up like a fruit-yogurt mix, I carried on pushing, and pushing, I knew it was the end for me, but dang it! I didn't want to give up just now! I may have been running out of energy, and I couldn't use water gun forever, but delaying those bitter seconds was so worth it. It almost seemed like time itself stopped just to save me. The boulder wasn't closing in on the wall. I used this as precious time, got out so I'd know what's going on, and praise my lucky stars, Shinx was the one who saved my sorry so-and-so.

"You won't hurt anyone ever again! You bully!" Shinx shouted. I noticed Drowzee unable to move, as circuits of electricity flowed all around him, well until Shinx knocked him out with a quick-attack. "I used thunder-wave, just like you told me to," he acknowledged proudly.

"Thanks pal. You really saved my fillet there."

"Fillet? Don't you mean bacon?"

"It was a terrible joke. Jokes aside let's handcuff him, or whatever you do with these outlaws."

"I don't know. I was never really given the right tools for arresting an outlaw, my guess Chatot thought I wouldn't really need them, since I've never been assigned for one."

"Err…Shinx there's a magnezone and a couple of magnemites coming our way."

"Oh, don't worry about them. They're the region's police force."

"ZZZT, Primary Officer: Magnezone, at your services. ZZZT, we've been informed by junior civilian: Marill and infant civilian: Azurill, that a petty outlaw, Drowzee has been sighted among these premises." Unsurprisingly he sounded much like a drone, being made of metal and electrical components and all.

"Welp, we have him; knocked out and ready to serve his sentence," I pointed out.

"ZZZT, perfect, alright fellow Magnemites, you know what to do."

"The two magnemites all held a mechanical brief case. It was placed down on the floor and started to fold out and open by itself. Once finished folding out. It looked like if someone stacked three metallic slates on each other.

"ZZZT, we require the outlaw."

"Okay Shinx, you grab his legs, I'll grab his arms." It didn't even looked like we were actually carrying him, instead it just looked like we were dragging him, his body didn't even move an inch, it got to the point where it just looked ridiculous (I'm pretty sure if I was on the other side on the spectrum though, it'd look funny as heck).

"ZZZT, Magnemites: Assist our fellow peers." The magnemites bought the metallic slate device thingy much closer to the fainted tapir pokémon, and carried him themselves, placing him on the device itself began expanding and adapting to Drowzee's size, and rotating. The middle one rotated clock-wise and the bottom one rotated anti-clockwise, speeding up drastically and creating an electrified cage which also created a conducting current on the base of the device that linked to the officer's magnetic/magnet-shaped hands. "ZZZT, we thank you for your assistance." The magnet shaped hands the officer's possessed started beeping and flashing one after the other, which sounded like a ninety's arcade game, making their way back to where ever Drowzee's being put in (a prison most likely).

"We did it John! I almost lost myself back there"

"Let's not celebrate just yet. We need to head back the way we came from."

"Nah, you don't need to worry about that. With our badges, we can head back home in an instant!"

"Oh…You should've told me that sooner."

Shinx performed the same trick as he did with Azurill, big flashing light comes down from the sky, takes up back where we come from, ya da, ya da. We returned to the guild. However when we got there, something about the guild members seemed different, they just looked way happier, yet a little surprised at our arrival (specifically, we were on the second floor)

"Hey, hey! Is it true, you took out an outlaw?" Corphish asked, being the first to speak.

"HEY JOHN, HOW ARE YOU WALKING ON TWO LEGS?!" Loudred shouted.

"Yup, yup you really had us worried when you went to , an' we never expected you to take on an outlaw, no sirree!" Bidoof admitted. Putting an "ey" sound after saying sir.

"Oh my gosh! What happened to you two?!" Sunflora asked showing concern."

"Oh, it's nothing. Well, aside from nearly getting crushed by a boulder, which was carried by telekinesis, I just fell down a hill." I responded.

"Yeah, I had a bit of a tumble myself." Shinx added.

"You two, over here please!" Chatot commanded. "It seems that you've given shock and worrisome among the guild, in addition to doing a job criteria, far beyond your skills. All I have to say for myself, is you've both pushed the boundaries of my expectations, Wigglytuff's too. I have received income from Magnezone and co. it's addressed for you two."

The parcel Chatot gave us was made from parchment, and looked like it was opened and re-sealed on its left side. I opened the parcel, it contained three thousand poké.

"Now, there was more, and you two more than deserved it. Sadly though, I don't make the rules, even Wigglytuff was in doubt for a moment. However rules are rules, regardless, and that's how it'll remain."

"Hey, as long as I've got good pay I don't mind," I assured him.

"Same'sies," Shinx added.

"I like your spirits, and… more focusing on the bright side: you two have both received two-thousand and one hundred poké, from the guild's share."

"Great, we might be able to save up for some of those TMs," I advised Shinx.

The light-toned sound of a hand bell waved through the room. "Dinner's ready!" Chimecho chimed from downstairs.

"Ah, grand, I've been waiting for her to announce that. Also John, Shinx, after today: I'd recommend you'd take the day off and focus on small jobs."

"Come on Chatot. We can do for another day!" Shinx added.

"Have you acknowledged your friend's ankle? It'll take a while for that to heal up! It's amazing you can walk on that thing at all."

"I've had worse. That aside, I could do for a rest," I confessed.

"Rest will come, rest will serve, now let's get downstairs before everyone eats everything," said Chatot.

* * *

After having dinner I was lying with my arms spread out, and resting my legs from the exhausting day.

"That was some day wasn't it, John?!"

"Yep," I replied lazily.

"I've never seen Chatot that proud of me before. I mean he has been proud of me, but not this much."

"Yep."

"Do you even care?"

"Yes, I do, it's just that I'm too tired to talk."

"Oh. Well if I haven't said this already, you're my best friend, and I mean that"

"Thanks, I guess, night," I said, as I dozed off.


	5. A River's Source of Impurity

**Chapter 5: A River's Source of Impurity.**

"UP AN' AT 'EM, IT'S MORNING!" Loudred roared.

Shinx awoke from the sound-breaking bellowing, he groaned, as his bags wrinkled. "Didn't Chatot tell you we had the day off?" Shinx asked.

"YES, HE DID. BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN LAZE AROUND!"

"Please! No more shouting, I'm awake."

"WHAT ABOUT HIM! HE HASN'T EVEN TWITCHED IN THE SLIGHTEST!"

"I don't know, maybe you turned him deaf."

"NOW THAT'S A LOAD OF TRASH! NOBODY HERE HAS EVER TURNED DEAF BEFORE, AND HE'S ONLY BEEN HERE FOR TWO DAYS!"

"Maybe you should try something that isn't shouting for once."

If you hadn't realised, I was deep asleep, it surprised me, despite the fact I've had deep sleeps before. Anyway loudred attempted to wake me by nudging me with his foot. "COME ON, WAKE UP! I DON'T MEAN TO SOUND RUDE, BUT YOU MUST GET UP, NOW!"

I unknowingly pushed him away in my sleep. "GRRR, WANNA PLAY THAT GAME FINE! GET IN TROUBLE WITH WIGGLYTUFF AND CHATOT FOR BEING LATE FOR THE MORNING BRIEFING! AND YOU WOULDN'T WANNA GET WIGGLYTUFF MAD! Just thinking about it, gives me shivers, ulggh." A shiver crept through his spine, the sudden change in Loudred's voice would suggest that Wigglytuff is someone you don't want to get on your bad side. He slowly walked off whilst saying this.

A sudden gear clicked in Shinx's brain, "I have an idea!" he exclaimed. He started rubbing his paws together; grabbing a hold of a piece of conductive metal he had in his draws, and poked me in the back with it. Giving me an electric shock as I shrieked in the process.

"What was that for?!" I demanded in a mixture of shock and frustration.

"Getting YOUR lazy butt out of bed, now hurry up."

Thanks to my deep sleep, we were indeed late for the morning briefing.

"AND THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!"

"Alright pokémons, let's start another day of exploring!" Said Chatot

"HORRAY!" Everybody said in unison, like last time.

"You two, you were late for the morning briefing. You better have an excuse."

"My bad. Deep sleeper here." I admitted.

"Hmm…You've got your first strike, however, if this happens again it won't be tolerated, and I'm not speaking for myself here. Also, how's the ankle?" Chatot asked with concern.

"The ankle? I barely feel any pain walking on this thing anymore, must have some kind of faster healing or regeneration. I am biologically and possibly genetically similar to an axolotl, after all"

"Yes, and if I never took an inter-dimensional studies course, I'd have no clue what you were talking about. Ahem! Moving on to the subject I was going to. Shinx, since you were so enthusiastic seeking for more jobs, Croagunk and Corphish have one for you. The visitors and citizens of Serenity River have reported to the guild and even the police department on multiple occasions, about a sudden turn of pollution in their waters. This affects both the civilians, due to the fact that it's their home, and their drinking water, as well as the travellers, witnessing a offputting and foul sight upon the once magnificent views. It's your job to help out the duo to find the suspect or suspects, and purify the River. Do you accept this mission?"

"Absolutely," Shinx beamed with pride.

"What about me?" I asked Chatot.

"As for you John, Sunflora's taken the day off as well. Since you're from a different plane of existence than us, you might be unfamiliar with all the plant life we have to offer, which Sunflora herself will explain."

"I'm a pretty fast learner when it comes to this stuff, hopefully I'll make you proud."

"Great to hear that, anyhow, I wish you both good luck with your current tasks." Chatot said before ascending to the second floor.

"So…where's the garden then? You never gave me a tour of that," I told Shinx.

"Yeah…For some reason Sunflora has keys to it, so I won't be able to show you," He explained.

"Have no fear! A guild's Sunflora has appeared!" Sunflora chimed, showing up at just the right time, in which someone would say: "Speak of the Devil." I did, but neither Shinx nor Sunflora understood what I was talking about.

"See ya later John. Oh, and before you go, I want you to take this." The orb Shinx showed me was ice-blue, reflecting colours and shades, like corundum. "It's a communic-orb; perfect for communicating with others when from a far distance. Here, I'll show you how it works." He pressed his orb and mine together, lighting up, faintly, as if it had bio-luminescence. "Now, we'll be able to talk to each other when one of us is taking the day off and the other isn't."

"Huh, neat," I commented.

Corphish came descending from the stairs greeting everyone with his catchphrase; "Hey, hey," and started to talk to Shinx, "Hey, hey Shinx! Are you ready for the job?"

"Yep,"

"Then let's get going, hey, hey!" Corphish cheered before climbing up the ladders with Shinx following him.

"If you follow me, I'll take you to the garden. The door to it is in the Mess Hall. Plus, Chimecho and I found a surprise for you, might be something that'll give a part of your old life back."

"So…You think I was a human then?"

"To be honest, I wasn't sure at start, but then I thought through it, and…Yes I believe you, Chimecho and Bidoof feel the same way too," Sunflora happily and honestly replied.

"That's good to hear, I thought the pokémon here would mistake me for being insane, and lock me up in a mental hospital."

Sunflora guided me through the mess hall, two doors were placed next to where the food stall was positioned, symmetrically, Sunflora went to the door on her right.

"Just, gotta find the right key, and…Bingo!" She beamed, unlocking the door. Upon going through the door after Sunflora, the garden had this harmonic look to it. It wasn't necessarily a garden, but more like a huge poly tunnel sharing architectural design to a tent made of fabric. Fragrances and aromas overwhelmed the area, yet it didn't feel too stuffy. Bushels, bushes, hedges and small trees created produce, which mostly consisted of vegetables and special seeds, that grew in either beds, or massive pots. "Oh my gosh! I always get so excited at the sight of all this, oh, and make sure you're careful around here, the special seeds in this area have a lot of negative effects."

"I'm taking a guess they're meant for fighting other pokémon, right?"

"Yes, they are, Wigglytuff and all the rest of the guild rely on me for growing these items, not just for the food."

"So anything you want me to do at this moment?"

"The plants need maintenance and harvesting. We're going to have to pluck some weeds out and place them in the compost too, and that's it really. I'd like to also let you know what everything else is first, that way you'll know what's what."

Everything was more or less the same, in terms of how things grew; berries grew on bushes, the special seeds were harvested from different coloured and shaped flowers, most vegetables grew from the ground, most fruit grew on trees (pineapples and tomatoes were an exception), etc.

"Does some of this seem familiar to you?" Sunflora asked.

"Yes, with the exception of the seeds and some berries, most of the stuff that grows here is in fact from my dimension."

"So you won't need help with this kind of stuff?"

"Not entirely, and even if that was the case, I could ask you, or just read it up."

"Good, good. I think it's time we get started!"

"Right behind you," The work I was given was not challenging in the slightest (aside from minor difficulty getting used to using mudkip paws), a few hours here and there, had passed, and my orb started glowing strongly, despite the fact it wasn't dark. An echoing yet gentle voice was heard through the orb (obviously belonging to Shinx)

 ** _"Testing, testing, anyone there?"_**

I talked directly to orb, before holding it up to the side of my head: "John, here. How's everything going?"

 ** _"Great, from what Croagunk's telling us, we're almost at Serenity River."_**

* * *

It was my first time travelling with Croagunk or Corphish (Croagunk even had one of those hiking bags that was as big as him), everything was getting real exciting…Until we actually got there. Chatot wasn't lying about anything when we arrived, the place was gross, the smell was foul, and the water was dark brown filled with all kinds of waste (you can even see brown spores of odour above the river). The only thing that looked clean at all, was the tall grass, and that's if it wasn't near the water.

"Who would even think about doing this?!" I asked the group.

"No, idea, but whoever did it, they are without a doubt, not from here." said Croagunk speaking in his low tone, like he always does.

"Hey, hey, what would make you so sure?" Corphish asked.

"Why would someone pollute their own home?" Croagunk responded, to which Corphish stopped talking. "Meh-heh-heh, that's what I thought."

"Hey, hey. How about we ask questions later, and find the ruffians who pulled this stunt." Corphish hastily added.

A group of five lotads were standing with each other, saddened by the damage of the River.

"You guys okay?" I asked them.

"Would you even bother asking if the faces we made told the whole story?" One of them (which was female) said in a dull tone. "That was part of our home, our luxury, our safe-haven…All gone, taken from us by outsiders, outsiders we trusted, bonded with. But now they've betrayed our trust." I know their habitat's ruined, but this lotad sounded a bit over-dramatic.

"How do we know it wasn't you guys that did it?" One of the male lotads asked.

I showed them my badge, letting them know that I was part of the guild.

"That could be a fake, for all we know," the male lotad responded.

"Oh come on, cousin he's got to be part of the guild, they're the best we got." Another male lotad assured. "Look, I'm sorry if we came off as rude, it's just ever since this incident, we've never been able to grab a hold of our emotions. Not to mention your Croagunk friend made everyone sceptical."

"Do you know who might be behind this?"

"Sadly, no. But when I was wandering out in the night, I got a glimpse of someone's body part, looked like it was creased and shrivelled up not by age, but by its natural shape, whatever it was, I saw it touching the ground, so it could be a tail, or an arm the latter belonging to a small pokémon. I tried chasing it down, but it got away quickly. However we found out that the culprit's been using oil drums to carry their waste with."

"I'll be sure to tell my group, and thanks for your time," I told the lotads.

"My pleasure," the one I was just talking to replied.

Corphish and Croagunk were also investigating, speaking with the citizens, and looking for possible clues.

"Hey guys, I think I've discovered a few hints of who the suspect might be, and what they do." I informed them.

"Hey, hey, from what we've been told the suspect is never seen in the day. So if we're going to find it or them, we'll have to stay here 'till night." Corphish explained.

"Heard the same things too, should we tell Chatot or Wigglytuff that we're gonna stay here for the night?"

"Hey, hey, might as well. You bought the communic-orb, didn't you, Croagunk?" Corphish reminded.

"What communic-orb?" Croagunk replied.

"Hey, hey, you're not telling me you forgot it, did you?" Corphish asked Croagunk, thinking he was joking.

"You never told me to bring it." Croagunk responded,

"I have one." I interrupted. "Only problem is I don't have Chatot or Wigglytuff on it."

"Who do you have on it?" Croagunk asked.

* * *

Sunflora and I were looking through the untouched woods of Treasure Town, wondering why she's taking me here.

"Where are we going exactly?" I asked her.

"I told you, it's a surprise."

"Not criticising your skills or experience or anything. But are we lost, by any chance?"

"No, no, far from it, the place should be here at any minute."

At this point, we may as well have been walking around in circles, all the trees looked near identical to each other, making it really hard to tell where we were.

"Sunflora, is that you?" A voice weakened the by trees was asking us.

"Yes, Chimecho, it's me," Sunflora answered.

"Phew…I thought for a second you would've ended up lost." Chimecho admitted with relief.

"Lost? What did you think I was doing here, back when there was a forest fire?"

"Running around in fear? Granted you helped." Chimecho joked, with a slight chortle.

"Pyrophobia, by any chance?" I asked Sunflora.

"…N-no…Why would you say that? I'm not afraid of fire." Sunflora forced with delay, struggling to maintain a straight face. "…We should move forward." She added.

As we walked on I noticed a shelter, built with stone and rock, the interior was dark, no source of light was anywhere.

"This shouldn't be a problem for my solar powers!" Sunflora remarked; as her face started glowing, she lit up the room, using some kind of ray of solar energy.

"Rebuilding your new life may have been a problem, but when Sunflora and I found this, I was sure you'd be able to feel a little bit more like yourself." The entire room was stocked to the brim with clothing. I inspected the contents and wondered why it was all here to begin with.

"What're these clothes doing here in the first place?" I asked. "And why is it all been abandoned?"

"Not too sure," Chimecho answered, "Our guess it was for the sake of inter-dimensional culture. But for some reason the idea dropped."

"Ah, well, gives me much more choice, so why complain? I mean it's obvious all you pokémon aren't affected by it." Shirts, jumpers, beanies, shoes, it had almost everything, but I ultimately decided that I went with plain, ordinary clothing, that would actually survive in the wilderness: A pair of beige, mud-resistant boots with steel caps, black socks, a white t-shirt and a checked jumper with four different shades of blue overlapping one another (the darkest blue remained the base colour).

"You're not going to choose the brighter clothes?" Chimecho pointed out.

"Pfft, heck no, that's not my style, and even if it was, it would get ruined easily." I tried all this on, and was pretty impressed with my new appearance. "I look fabulous! Don't I?" I joked, attempting to use a girly voice.

"Well, you should wrap up well anyway. Autumn's coming and when winter comes, things will get tough." Chimecho recommended.

The communic-orb I left lying on an unused desk started emitting the same ominous glow like it did last time, Shinx's echoed voice was once again heard through it:

 _ **"Hey, John. Me, Croagunk and Corphish, are planning to stay for the night. Will you tell Chatot and Wigglytuff?"**_

"Sure, but why?" I asked,

"From what we heard the criminal only walks around in the night, and never hangs around during the day."

"I'll tell them, don't worry."

"'Kay thanks, over!" he said, ending the call.

* * *

A lot of hours passed since I had that communic-orb conversation with John, so much so to the point where it got to midnight, and still no sign of the outlaw.

"Hey, hey, has anybody noticed the clouds above us? I get the feeling there might be a storm brewing," Corphish told us pointing up to the pitch-black clouds.

"Meh-heh-heh, good, with a storm on the loose, it'll give us a home-field advantage... I hope" Croagunk acknowledged, trudging through the shallow waters, with his enormous hiking bag.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"I have the dry skin ability, Corphish's a water type, and you can learn thunder, which never misses an opponent in the rain. Meh-heh-heh, that's if you know it."

"I don't," I replied, to which Croagunk looked disappointed.

"Ah, that reminds me." He took the hiking bag of his back and pulled out a certain TM.

"Meh-heh-heh, it contains flash. With it you'll be able to light up dark areas, and temporally blind your foes, causing them to lose their accuracy."

"So I'm allowed to use it?" I requested.

"Meh-heh-heh, I wouldn't be showing you it, if I thought otherwise, and don't feel guilty using it, it's got unlimited usage."

Croagunk handed over the TM, the moment I touched it, I could feel, a strange tingle or something, coming from it. It felt like I was absorbing some kind of energy from the very disc, I could even fell it climbing up to my brain. To which Croagunk explained:

"Meh-heh-heh, congratulations, you've learned flash."

"Should I try it out?"

"Meh-heh-heh, go ahead, nothing's preventing you from using it."

I faced a dim area where nothing but the lake could be seen. I used flash, which coloured my entire face with a pure white lighting. Everything was as bright as an illumise's tail I even saw two pokémon, a grimer and a trubbish jabbing the lake with pointed sticks.

"There! Over there!" I shouted. "Stop right there! Put your hands up!" I demanded.

"Whoa, whoa, easy there, buddy!" the trubbish shouted, holding out his palms in front of him. "My friend Grimer and I, are only here to clean the Rivers!" His voice sounded like food was inside his mouth, yet nothing was actually seen inside. Not that I wanted to look for myself.

"Hey, hey, do you think they're telling the truth?" Corphish asked the group.

"Not sure, but however I will check them for items, they could have anything in there." Croagunk replied, doing as he said.

"There's nothing in there, I can assure you." Grimer said, tossing his bag (which was covered in purple sludge) in front of Croagunk's feet

"Hey, hey, did you find anything?" Corphish asked once Croagunk was finished inspecting it.

"Bah, there's nothing but long, pointed sticks, a map and a gunky muffin in here," Croagunk replied with a voice of disappointment.

"Who are you two?" I continued to calmly interrogate the waste-bodied pokés. They didn't seem like trouble, but information is important.

"Us? We're just a duo of pokémon who explore the world for what it is. We don't search treasure or fight pokémon, we only explore for the sake of sight-seeing and enjoying the environment. I'm Trubbish."

"I'm Grymer," from what it sounded like, he mispronounces his "I" sounds, but that could be due to him having no teeth.

"So if you're not outlaws, what are you doing here?" I questioned them.

"Doing what any pokémon with the ryght mind and a decent heart would do." Grimer replied. "We're trying to help the community, restore the water to its natural state."

"Do you have an idea of who may have done this?" I inquired, attempting to get more information.

"Not in the slightest." Trubbish responded. "But we did see a few shady characters. They fled as soon as we saw them."

"Did you see where they went?"

"Could've been anywhere, my guess is that they are around somewhere over there," Grimer suggested pointing right."

"Meh-heh-heh, how about we go then?" Croagunk asked with a mischievous grin on his face.

We travelled off, as Trubbish led the way, pushing back low branches and tall grass away from his path.

"Do you have a team name?" I asked Trubbish and Grimer.

"You sure ask a lot of questions, don't you?" Grimer commented, "That aside, no we don't go by a 'team name', what about you?"

It came to me that throughout the entire time John and I formed a team, we haven't even thought of an actual team name. "No, not yet."

"Halt." Trubbish ordered quietly, leaning down, and putting the sides of his hands on his forehead, as if he had binoculars. "I think I can see the outlaws, and there's a whole bunch of them."

We were no longer on the shallow waters, but instead we were on the dry grass, a camp rested on most of the terrain.

My eyes were squinting from where I was trying to see the outlaw. All I could hear, though, was an obnoxious street voice.

"'Sup homie, you dumped the garbage in the river like'a told you to?" I managed to get a closer view, the culprit was a male scrafty (his shrivelled up tail must have been the body part that lotad was describing), and he was talking to a male krookodile.

"Got some good news, and some bad news." The krookodile responded, with a voice of a thug.

"What dy'a mean by that huh?" The Scrafty asked looking at his fingers.

"The good news is that we dumped the waste with no problem. Bad news is that we were caught in the act."

The scrafty just looked down at the floor, nodding and scratching his nostrils, he then surprised the krookodile by punching in the jaw with an uppercut of ruthless strength. Falling back-first into the shallow water.

"You had one job brah, an' you ruined it! If something like this happens again, I'll pop ya!" pointing directly at the krookodile with a huge temper, you could even see the veins on his head and the vessels on his eyes.

"Boss, we succeeded with the smuggling." A female unfezant told the scrafty.

"See krooks, the girl here, knows how to get stuff don', here take eighty K for yo' payment!" he exclaimed flipping an eighty thousand poké coin in the unfezant's direction.

"Hey, hey, what's the plan?" Corphish asked Croagunk quietly.

"Meh-heh-heh, the whole plan was to purify the lakes, that's where you come in."

"What do you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that you'll go back to the rivers and use these," Croagunk advised, holding what looked like sea-blue marbles. "They're purification dews. Capable of disintegrating, evaporating or ripping apart any harmful material and replacing it with clear, clean liquid, all you have to do is drop them into the waters, easy right?"

"Yep, easy," Corphish beamed, scuttling off in the darkness of the night.

"What about us?" Trubbish asked.

"Meh-heh-heh, our main goal is to stop the items from being smuggled, take it one-by-one or destroy it, but how?"

"I think I've got an idea," I joined. "We need to distract the thugs and their leader, if we do that, stealing the items would be much easier to do."

"Meh-heh-heh, great plan, but how do we pull it off?" Croagunk questioned.

"We could set a few trees on fire—"

"Whoa, whoa, don't you think that may be bit overly destructive?" Grimer hastily interrupted.

"We can put out the flames later. This might actually work if the lightning comes, but I'm gonna need some metal."

"Meh-heh-heh, it's not much but it'll do," Croagunk said handing me some metal poles and string. "I'm sure you'll know what to do with this."

"Yeah I do, oh and don't take those crates until I've lit the actual fire."

* * *

 _'Meh-heh-heh the storm's brewing, I can sense it. The question remains if I summon it quicker or wait…I think I'll set it off now. Just got to inhale, inflate my cheeks, and getting ready to release, and…let it all out, good now the jet of water's heading for the sky, any second now, and it'll encourage the storm.'_

"How are we going to take the loot?" _'Now what can Grimer and Trubbish do to help.'_ "Croagunk?" _'Really wish Grimer would lay it down on the questions, Trubbish too.'_

"Just wait a moment, Shinx said to not do anything until he set the trees on fire." _'The kids got me worried now, hopefully he's not got caught by the scrafty's gang.'_

"Looks like, the rains started." _'Heh, wasn't until Trubbish told me about the rain, I didn't realise it was actually pouring.'_

"Okay, here's what we do: In order to take those crates; we're gonna have to make sure the scrafty, the unfezants, and the krookodile leave their positions, chances are not all of them will leave, so we're gonna have to take them out."

"Eh, Croagunk, didn't we tell you that we don't battle often?" _'I should've sent Trubbish or Grimer to do the job, not Corphish, if he's remembered the coordinates, it'd be no problem.'_

"Meh-heh-heh, you did Grimer, but I think it's about time you step out of your comfort zone."

* * *

The rain's chucking it down, I could even hear the sound of thunder, clapping in the high skies, if I tie the metal to the highest point of a tree, my chances of that area being struck by lightning will increase (Sunflora wouldn't be in the slightest happy if she saw me do this…Thank Arceus, that Croagunk and Corphish went instead). Climbing trees are easy for me anyway, the tree in particular was mahogany, I leaped from branch to branch, digging my claws in the bark, so that I don't fall I took the string out along with the metal from my bag.

 _'Now if I remember, you've got to overlap the two ends, tie them together, make two bunnelby ears on the strings, then tie those two together…Done, piece of cake.'_

"Could've sworn I heard something move around these parts," a pangoro, who appeared out of nowhere, said.

"Must've been your imagination. Now huwy, the baws, don't want us messing up this deal with Team Skull."Ordered tyrantrum, with a slight lisp in his sentences, who followed the pangoro.

"You go. I'm guarding this part of the site."

"Alwight then, just watch yourself, bud."

With the pangoro guarding this part of the camp, I had to think of a better escape route, and by the looks of it, that lightning's going to strike sometime soon…I can't just jump down and pounce on him, because that'll cause way too much attention, and is just plain stupid.

'Hmm…Let's see…One stun seed, one oran berry, two blast seeds and two sleep seeds, aha.'

I took a tiny peek down, the pangoro was right below me (or at least the branch I was on), the perfect opportunity to throw the sleep seed down. I pinched the sleep seed and dropped it when my paw dangled above the tree. The seed released some kind of visible aroma which climbed up to the pangoro's nose, forcing him into a sudden urge of slumber.

Now that's out of the way, I can make my way to Croagunk and the rest, I just need to remain quiet, yet get there fast enough before the lightning strike.

* * *

 _'Meh-heh-heh, the thunder's crashing together, if Shinx's plan went successfully, we should see the lightning come any second now…'_

*CRASH*

"Baws we got'a fire in the woods, it's heading for our camps."

 _'Seems the tyrantrum has informed the scrafty, hopefully that'll get more of his goons to occupy it.'_

"Krooks, Trantrum, you go get "The Toise" and make him get rid'a those flames! Unfezants; you stay here with me and guard the goods." 'Darn, didn't know a blastoise was part of the group, oh well, guess it's gonna be as good as it gets.'

"I'm back. Has everything gone to plan?"

"Whoa kid, you surprised me." _'Didn't realise he was there, kid's got some good stealth I'll give him that.'_

"Yes and no; the good news is that you caused the forest-fire without any problems. Bad news is that they have a blastoise in their gang, we have to act quickly."

 _'Bah, the unfezants have all formed a circle near the items, getting them without being caught will be impossible.'_

"Maybe we should light another tree?" _'Hmm, is the kid on to something, what should I give him? I Don't have any metal left, what do I give him?'_

"Are you kidding me? Do you have anything respect for the envi'y'ronment?" _'Ughh, if that piece of sludge doesn't quiet down, we'll get caught-'_

"Calm down, Grimer. This may be the only way we're going to stop the thugs, whether we like it or not." _'Thank goodness. I'm glad Trubbish understands the situation.'_

"…Fine, do what you have to do."

 _'Do I have anything capable of igniting or exploding…? No.'_ "Do any of you have a blast seed?"

"I've got one. Why?" _'So glad Shinx's actually packed stuff, kid's the only one who's done anything so far.'_

"A blast-seed's insides are highly sensitive to other materials (such as wood), grind it with almost anything, and it'll set alight, just be careful though, the explosive parts are very hard to contain, start of by slowly peeling the skin. Once you get through that you'll see the brown insides, rub it up against one of the trees, and it'll be no different to holding a match stick."

"Got it," _'Meh-heh-heh, kid's quite skilled; I don't even know why I never took him out on explorations.'_

"Hey, hey I'm back." _'Was that Corphish? Good. Now we have more fighters, meh-heh-heh.'_ "Where's Shinx?"

"Meh-heh-heh, helping us finish the job."

"Ok, but were did he go?"

"Meh-heh-heh, he's gone to the trees over on the right, trying to make a distraction."

"What kind of distraction?-"*BLAM*

"Boss, did you hear that explosion?" _'An explosion? No, he was supposed to light it up, not blow it up! If Shinx has gotten caught in that explosion, we're gonna have to do something drastic.'_

"Some punk's trying to mess with us! Unfezants: split yourselves! Half of ya guard the land, other half, fly above, and find the punk! I'll go check out that explosion! I don't want anything taking our stuff!"

"Boss, you are aware that there's lightning above us, right?" _'Looks like one of the male unfezant's trying to reason with him.'_

"Does it look like I care?! Do as I say now! Or I'll have ya beat!" _'It seems like their leader has a way of "commanding" his grunts.'_ "I'm gonna find the punk myself, show them what's what after messing with me!"

* * *

Ughhh…I messed up badly, they're coming for me, I could hear their footsteps, and I couldn't move a muscle.

"So you're the brat that's been messing around here! What gives huh?!" The scrafty scolded.

"…Who are you?" I asked him.

"Why would a twerp like you care, huh?! All you would wanna know about me anyway, is that you'll regret meeting me! The leader of the hoodlum gang! But since I'm gonna beat ya senseless to the point ya won't feel nu'ank!" he rudely boasted (mispronouncing nothing wrong), before grabbing me by the neck. He wasn't strangling me, but instead he was trying to intimidate me. "I'm Scrafty, and I'm gonna be the last poké you'll see!"

From the way Scrafty was holding me, I had only one way of countering it: using flash. The entire area lit pure white (like it did last time I used it), being so close to the flashing light, Scrafty's pupils shrunk, where they were affected by it, he covered his eyes with his arms, attempting to recover

"Arghh! Sneaky brat! Just wait until I get my hands on you! Arghh!

I decided not to head for Croagunk and the rest, if I did that, he'll find them, and our plan will fail, I fled further from the camp, hoping that Scrafty would buy the fact that I've ran off for good.

"Ohh…My eyes may be blurring, but that ain't stopping me from catching your sorry soul!"

Running, however, was difficult. Blast seed explosions aren't the easiest thing to recover from."

"I can still see you! You're not running, or hiding from me!" he was getting closer. I'm practically limping at this point. My only chance of getting out of this situation now is by stunning scrafty, time to use thunder-wave.

"Take this!" I shouted, using thunder-wave. Scrafty looked like he was paralysed for mere seconds, but as soon as the flow of the electricity disappeared; he shrugged it off like it was nothing.

"Ha, what was that? No really, that was weak! Anything else you got for me punk, huh?!" He spent wayyy to much time talking; he could've taken me down from where I was standing. But why complain? It gives me more time to think about another plan of attack. I browsed inside my bag, and found an oran berry. I felt a strengthening sensation once I ate it, and ran off as, Scrafty was too busy taunting me.

"What?! Get back here! I ain't finished with you!" heh, it was quite funny hearing his reaction, however I had no idea where to go, I have my x-ray specs, sure, but overall I'm lost, and I'm trying to get away from Scrafty.

"Kid, is that you?!" Someone on my left found me, wasn't Scrafty, and by the way I was called "kid", it was no doubt that it was Croagunk.

"Yeah, it's me, you have to be quiet though, Scrafty's coming for me." I whispered.

"Meh-heh-heh don't worry, I've got a plan." He grabbed hold of me with his right arm, and jumped directly to the nearest tree. "Meh-heh-heh, quite convenient that we have a lot of trees here, isn't it?" I noticed Croagunk didn't have his hiking backpack with him, probably just left it with the others

"Dang it, where did he go?! Ughh, can't waste my time here. I better get back to the gang." The angered gang leader rushed back to the camp.

"What did you do to the items?" I asked him.

"Bah, we didn't take any risks, so we destroyed it. The owners of those items won't be happy, but hey, life's full of disappointments, and main reason we came here to begin with, was to stop the pollution in the lake, which we did."

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that, can't wait to head back to the guild and tell everyone about this."

"Sorry kid, but with the weather and the fact it's nearly midnight, we're gonna have to stay here for the night."

"That's fine with me,"

* * *

We headed back to the river, which was all clear/clean now. The river would be nothing like you'd expect, it illuminated with reflective mirror-like colours. Some pokémon even believe that the lake was created by the legendary suicune.

We found the citizens, and their homes, and asked if we could borrow a spare tent, which they let us, however Corphish, Trubbish and Grimer were nowhere to be seen.

"Where are they?" I asked Croagunk.

"You mean Corphish and the rest? Don't have a clue, and don't let it concern you for now, go into one of the tents and get some shut eye, I'll find them."

"You sure you want to go alone?" I assured him.

"Meh-heh-heh, I don't need that much sleep, also you've done enough for today. I'll go by myself. Besides I left them with my stuff anyway, I have to go get it."

* * *

Me and the rest of the guild that weren't at Serenity River. Wigglytuff, Chatot, Bidoof, Sunflora, Loudred, Diglett, Dugtrio and Chimecho, sat in a circle. A fireplace crafted out of coal and wood was placed in the middle, atop slabs of rock. Snapping and frizzling, waving around, in response to the harsh wind, despite the fact we were inside. We roasted marshmallows some of us were wrapped in blankets, while Bidoof told this cheesy ghost story about a chandelure in a haunted hospital:

"And when the nurse came back, her patient's body was motionless, yup, yup, an' unknown to her, the patient's soul was burnt away yup, yup."

"Ch-Chandelures, don't burn away souls, do they?" Sunflora nervously asked, quivering in fear.

"Actually that may be true." I assured. "According to legend. Chatot, back me up on this one."

"Whether, chandelures really burn souls of the deceased or not is unknown to us. It's mostly been considered spiritually possible by ghost pokémon, even though such an act is illegal, enough to make you a six star ranked outlaw alone."

"Oh my gosh, stop with the facts, I'd rather not know!" Sunflora begged (must be from her pyrophobia).

"SHOULDN'T THE REST OF THE GUILD BE HERE BY NOW!?" Loudred wondered.

"They said they had to stay at Serenity River for the night. And, considering your loud voice, I don't blame them." I answered.

"HEY!" Loudred back-lashed.

"Well I'm sorry mate, but it's the truth. You can't deny the truth," I jokingly replied.

"YOU GOT A BIG MOUTH!" at this point I noted that Loudred can't take jokes.

"I'm only joking gosh, and what do you mean by big mouth? I hate to sound rude, but you're the one whose mouth is literally bigger than mine. Okay now I'm done, so please, let's not turn this into a riot."

"Hmph, FINE!"

"You know what I've been thinking about guys?" Wigglytuff asked. "With the whole sudden, increasing numbers of outlaws, humans being in our dimension and becoming pokémon," he pointed at me while saying this. "I reckon something strange is happening, time messing up bit by bit. it's probably something to do with the time gears."

"What are time gears?" I asked Wigglytuff.

"Time gears are sacred relics, hidden in secret places around the world. Legend has it that they keep the time flowing in each region they're placed in, it's a really important function. As a matter of fact, they're so important to the point where even the worst of the worst of outlaws, never even consider stealing them, and even if one would try, their whereabouts are incredibly vague, and have been rumoured to have a legendary pokémon guarding each individual time gear."

"You said, no outlaw has ever considered stealing them. What happens if one would steal them?" I asked.

"Luckily, it's never happened, not even for experimental purposes. But back in ancient times, there was a story told by the discoverers of the very time gears. They claimed the gods told them:

 **"** We, the gods of the universe: the controller of time! The controller of space! The keeper of dimensional plains! And lastly: The creator of creation. Have chosen five mystical life-forms, to guard the time gears, if thou would thieve a time-gear that location of the time-gear would have its time continuum stop, if one would thieve all, time itself would stop, a world of darkness would arrive in its midst. No morning sun, no nightly moon, no rain and no colour, we name this: 'The planet's paralysis'. **"** Wigglytuff spoke through the whole speech in a very low voice, possibly trying to imitate a god. "Quite the story isn't it?"

"You're telling me, but trust me: somebody WILL want take time gears," I assured.

"DIDN'T HE TELL YOU?! NOT EVEN THE WORST OF OUTLAWS HAVE CONSIDERED TAKING THEM!"

"Yes, but the time will come, you see when Shinx started showing me the whole place, I realised something. You're not too different to us humans, in terms of living, soon civilisation will evolve, just like us humans, and once our civilisation evolved, we became reckless, greedy and selfish. Not all of us though, so don't get the wrong idea of this. Anyway... We did all these unforgivable acts, dating back from millennia ago, 'till our present day. Bottom line is: somebody WILL take those time gears. It's never a matter of IF it happens. It's always a matter of WHEN. My guess it'll be someone with malicious intentions, or someone who just doesn't want to see the world alive anymore." I think I may have gone a bit overboard on that part.

For the most part everyone actually looked shocked from what I said, well, until Diglett started snickering, releasing an explosion of laughter: "You're so weird!"

"Aren't we all," I answered.

* * *

 _'I've been looking through this riverside, for ages. Where are they?'_

"H-help...need help." _'Who was that? Sounded like somebody got injured…Oh dear!'_

"What the heck happened to you three?!" _'Why have they been beaten up, what did they do to them.'_

 _'Trubbish's trying to tell me something, how is he even still conscious?'_ "Croa…gunk…They came back, beat us up…The leader, just sat there and watched…Grinned…He told us:…Any one that screws with the hoodlum gang wished they hadn't…He said he was making an example of us."

 _'These pokés are dangerous! Better make sure Shinx doesn't get involved with them, I must also report this to officer Magnezone.'_

*rustle* *rustle* *snap*

 _'Somebody's watching us…Better check it out.'_

"Meh-heh-heh. Whoever you are, you better show yourself!" _'No response, don't even know why I tried.'_ "I'm coming over, you better reveal yourself!"

*snap* _'they're fleeing…Not for long.'_ "Come back!" _'It's a purrloin! Is it part of the Hoodlum Gang? Doesn't matter; just make sure Corphish, Trubbish and Grimer make it back safely.'_


	6. Marowak's Dojo

**Chapter 6: Marowak's Dojo.**

Tonight's storm was tough, didn't affect me one bit, but it was something to acknowledge, knowing Shinx and the rest are still out there. But like I said: didn't affect me.

However I still got those strange visions. The only difference being that this one was clearer and much less distorted. All I saw was a field of drenched grass, surrounded by trees, which basically told me that I was in a forest-like area, nothing else…Until I noticed something leap out of the trees, it sped straight past me without noticing. Probably due to the fact that these are a form of illusion. Despite not being/feeling physically or visibly there, my instincts told me to chase after it.

The unidentified pokémon started mumbling " _At last, I found one of the time gears!"_ The silhouette of the pokémon didn't seem too clear, the voice was definitely male, but by looking at its biological design, and feats, the pokémon looked reptilian. The silhouette continued speaking.

The time gears this anonymous figure spoke of, was shaped like a cog, it was a slight-translucent, cyan colour. A darker shade of blue formed a snowflake-like pattern on the base, with a lighter blue domed barrier encasing it, emitted green, irregular hexagons, that sort of looked like quartz shone on the exterior of the barrier.

" _If I find all the time gears, and succeed in taking them the planet's paralysis wil-"_

A thunder storm muffled out everything he was saying from that point on. At this point I'd wish a flash of lightning would reveal the pokémon's identity-

"UP AN' AT 'EM, IT'S MORNING!" Great, the moment when I had some important information and details, Loudred comes storming in and wakes me up, breaking my connection with the current vision, and he's right up in my face in case I wouldn't wake up like last time.

I started to adapt and get used to what I call 'The wake-up call' (it still didn't mean my ear drums did. Uggh... the ringing). I made a mental note to myself to get ear muffs before Loudred destroys my cochlea.

On the bright side though, I was actually early for the morning briefing this time.

"AND THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!" (I could see myself getting bored stiff from the repetition of this morning briefing).

"Alright pokémon. Time to get back to another day of work!" Wigglytuff cheered.

"HOORAY!" Everybody aside from me exclaimed with over-excitement. Don't get me wrong, I like the current job I have here, just almost everyone here just sounds like they had an overdose of euphoria or some sort.

"Hey John, I need to have a word with you." Wigglytuff ordered, while waving at me to get my attention. "Chatot and I have decided that you and Shinx should get some training it was naive and oblivious for both of us to send you two out on dangerous missions, that were far beyond your league."

"Wigglytuff's right and we sincerely feel very foolish to not know the circumstances of these tasks. Don't get us wrong, you've progressed beyond our expectations. In conclusion though, we're taking you and Shinx to the same place where all the guild members here have trained before: Marowak's Dojo."

* * *

"Ay, kid wake up, we need to get going."

"W-What?" I asked, in a low tiresome voice, with my eyes all droopy.

"We need to get to the guild urgently; we've got a huge problem on our hands." Croagunk practically forced me awake by tugging on my front, left paw.

"What happened?" I asked with my voice remaining in tiresome state.

"Scrafty- The Hoodlum Gang, they beat Corphish, Trubbish and Grimer up real bad. Don't worry though, they aren't coming back—not with Magnezone and the rest on the case."

My blurry sight returned and I was rushed out the tent by Croagunk and witnessed the current condition of our peers. They were all bashed and bruised; even Grimer's body looked damaged despite his entire body being made of loads of sludge and gunk.

"Don't worry about us too much Shinx, we'll be fine." Trubbish reassured me before I could say anything.

"I wouldn't be so sure. You three were beat out your skin. Don't act like you've had a simple graze." It's out of character to see Croagunk like this, usually he's all calm and collective with very few things that actually bother him. But looking at him now, he's distressed out of his mind.

"Oh, don't act like a total primeape, we're fine! Besides, the real reason you're so caught up, is because of those thugs stealing your items," Grimer lectured.

"I-" Croagunk deeply inhaled, as an attempt to lower his anger."You know what just forget about it." Croagunk sighed in defeat, he knew he wasn't going to win this argument, and he sure as heck knew that his loss is his own, and other poké's problems are their own as well.

"Hey, hey, how about we all get home and not get at each other's throats. In fact, let's look at the positive side of this: We restored the lake to its natural way, everyone's happy and best of all the Hoodlum Gang aren't coming back anytime soon." Corphish was right, everyone's having the time of their lives, the lotads have something to swim in, the surskits and masquerains came back after leaving the area when it was polluted, the poliwags can nurture and grow much quicker and easier. Basically, everything worked out fine.

"Meh-heh-heh I guess you're right." Croagunk brought back his signature grin, gaining approval from Corphish.

"Hey, hey. Of course I'm right. Oh and err…Trubbish, Grimer, since both of you are in pretty bad shape, how about you stay at Treasure Town for a while, it's safe there, trust me."

"Eh…Alright then, makes sense anyway, to not go anywhere for the mean time. Right, Grimer?"

"Well if you're staying I'll stay, neither of us are fit to go sight-seeing at this moment. That's if there's room for us."

"Hey, hey, there's always room for one more at Treasure Town, especially since not that many pokémon even reside there in the first place."

* * *

I couldn't keep it to myself anymore. I had to tell someone about my visions, it would be a better time now than ever, especially since I've foreseen somebody stealing time-gears. Albeit I didn't get the chance to know their purpose, reason or desire. Regardless, it's irrational and has to be discussed.

"Hey…Er, Chatot, I need to have a word with you about something important …Privately." I told him, he was the best pokémon to talk to about it next to Wigglytuff, as he was one of few who've taken me seriously so far.

"Whatever the subject is, I'll gladly listen. What is it that you wanted me to know about?" He asked, raising his eyelids and leaning a tad closer, so nobody would hear.

"As crazy as it sounds; I think I can see through the future—"

"What?! That's preposterous, you're not even a psychic typ—"

"Quiet down they'll hear you." I whispered. Thank goodness nobody bothered trying to eavesdrop... well until Chatot had that spontaneous outburst of shock, then Diglett, Loudred overheard us and looked in our direction. "This is private talk, would you kindly, get back to your job please." I politely asked them.

"Alright, whatev'," Diglett plainly said, going back down to the burrows with Loudred, to do sentry duty.

"However, it's as it sounds, it's not like some 'special move' or anything it's just there. They occur at random, and it has so far only happened when either: A: I'm asleep. Or B: If I interact with something related to that particular vision. It happened with Drowzee and Azurill, that's how I knew Drowzee was an outlaw. It's also worth mentioning when I had one of these visions, I saw someone, at mere seconds away from stealing a time gear."

"What?! That's insane!" Chatot shouted.

"Shh!"

"Opp… sorry, ahem. Anyhow, this 'vision' you speak of, what did you see?" Chatot asked.

"To start off with, I was in a forest-like area at night, with a similar if not the same storm that happened last night, anyway the forest held one of the time gears, the pokémon I saw started talking to himself for some reason and whatever he said, he clearly wanted those time gears. Unfortunately I didn't get to know the reason why, but if we don't do anything about it, chances are the flow of time will stop."

"Such treachery, I must inform Wigglytuff about this, and since you said this pokémon was in a forest-like area, my guess he'll be at Treeshroud Forest. Oh, and did you manage identify the 'time thief's' species?" Chatot asked.

"No, I didn't, all I knew for fact is that he adapted to his environments really well, he was leaping all over the place, so that pretty much takes away all pokémon unsuitable for land. He wasn't that big either, he was possibly a few inches or a foot taller than me, I don't remember it that well, in all honesty."

"Don't pressure yourself, you've already given us more than enough information, you go ahead and go to Marowak's Dojo and wait for Shinx's arrival. And John: This ability you possess, I know nothing of it, I apologise for the inconvenience, but I will look into it, it is something peculiar, I'll speak with the elder, Torkoal, maybe he'll know about it."

* * *

I sat in boredom on a huge rock that stationed itself on the grass of the crossroads, staring at my dangling feet swinging back and forth. Ughhh, if only I had a book to read, it's bad enough this whole region's electrical resource is limited to certain services only. But to be fair it's more or less a good thing, finally nice to see a place that haven't been overrun by technology, but I'd doubt it'll last after a few centuries.

However optimism exists, with that I have a chance to have some alone time and let my thoughts overcome my conscious, mostly about my former home and life, and some minor things.

 _'Are blazikens and skarmorys capable of uni-hemispheric sleep?_

 _'Are arcanines and other canine pokémon colour blind?_

 _'I wonder…If a shuckle with maxed out attack stats, used power-swap, had the pure power ability and held a metronome while using rollout on its fifth consecutive hit, with a critical hit, used defence curl and me-first'ed the rollout attack beforehand, alongside two helping hand cherrims in the sun: What would happen to that poor ledyba with minimum defence, in terms of penalties and statistics? Aside from dealing with the worst pain imaginable._

 _'Male gogoats can learn milk drink… And I have nothing else to explain on that matter.'_

"Excuse me, sir." A light but not high pitched voice spoke to me, I snapped out of my trance and noticed a spinda with three red patches, one on his swirl shaped eye, the other on the tip of both of his ears, was standing on my right. He constantly put one foot in front of the other and couldn't retain his standing positioning; swaying correspondingly. He looked a tad drunk, even though he wasn't (then again, if you looked at any spinda, they all look drunk). "I hope you don't mind moving, I need to make expansions on my hopes and dreams." What he spoke of didn't make sense in the slightest, he claimed he was making expansions, but there was nothing in sight to make expansions on in the first place (aside from the road, I guess, but even then I knew there was nothing to expand upon).

"Pardon?" I asked, confused by his statement.

"The rock you're sitting on, I need it moved, everything I'm working on is down there and it must be kept secret."

"Oh sorry, go ahead." I moved out the way allowing him to do what he wanted to do, despite his esoteric behaviour.

"Thanks pal, who are you anyway? You look… strange, like out of this world strange."

"I'm a pokémon like you and everyone else," I answered with a casual face and tone.

"I know you're a pokémon but, I've never seen pokémon wear clothes, only bandannas, scarfs, glasses and bows. Who are you?" He asked.

"My name's Mu—John." I decided to be honest with him, what was lying going to achieve? It wasn't like he'd care if I had a human name.

"A strange pokémon has a strange name, wow!" He exclaimed with glee, rather than sarcasm. "I'm Spinda! As much as I enjoyed talking to you I need to do a few things or two."

He stood in front of the rock that I was formerly sitting on, leaning his head forward as if he was having a staring contest with it.

"Okay…One…Two…" He slowly backed away from the rock, placing each step he made behind the previous foot. He halted and poised his position, his right leg in front and his right foot behind it, brushing against the gravel. "Three!" He darted towards the rock at running speed, he held out is arms, preparing to push his foe…It had no effect, in fact the rock used counter on him as a method to retaliate, knocking the rock's foe of his feet without even moving a single millimetre.

"Are you alright? It seems tackle wasn't very effective against your opponent, try using rock smash or strength," I jokingly taunted.

"I don't know any of those moves. Do you? I could use some help."

"Sorry, I don't know any of those moves either." I responded.

"Oh, bummer, guess I'll get Kangaskhan to help me move it. Actually she might be opening up her storage facility, sometime soon. Bummer, bummer, bummer!" Spinda lamented to himself in a child-like manner. "Okay, think Spinda, think…"

"Hey John, over here… we've got a problem!" At a fair distance I noticed Shinx was shouting for my attention, he looked troubled and his voice screamed of panic, and exhaustion. He ran up to me and slowed down, attempting to retain his breath and heart-beat back to a regular level.

"You seem paranoid. Did something bad happen?" I asked him

"It's a long story! We need to tell Wigglytuff, Chatot and Magnezone about it!" He rushed his speech, adding it a bit of slurring it, and having little control over his voice.

"Hey, hey, what you're doing out here?" Corphish asked me, his face seemed bruised as ever, yet still retaining that upbeat attitude.

"I was waiting for Shinx. Apparently Chatot and Wigglytuff said we should train at Marowak's Dojo. Don't know why they said it after Mt Bristle or Serenity River. But better late then never. Am I right?"

"Are you four fit enough to get back to the guild by yourselves?" Shinx asked with concern.

"Eh, we'll be fine," the trubbish carelessly replied.

"Meh-heh-heh, I'll guess we'll leave you two by yourselves." Croagunk alleged, cracking a smirk, before heading to the guild with his fellow peers.

"Another day, another beating?" I jokingly enjoined to Shinx.

"Err...sure."

* * *

The familiar rock-structured building looked a more detailed then I remembered. The fake marowak skull now had white feathers with red diamond-shaped tips circling it, brown arches, accompanied by red, wooden, slit roofing, the bone shaped poles were placed on top if, in addition to having pikes on the rocky roofing.

"John, wait," Shinx stopped me in my paths to tell me something. "When you greet Marowak, don't ask him if he's wearing his mothers skull," he advised me.

"Why would I?" I blandly asked him.

"Just to be safe, some ignorant or insensitive vigoroth asked him the same thing and he got whacked straight on the cheek by his club."

We went inside, the flooring was made of sand with stone tiling forming a circle, pointed wooden poles went through the ceiling (which explained the pikes), torches were strapped onto them.

A marowak emerged what looked like from a dark dark hallway entrance. He seemed mildly surprised with our presence.

"Oh... I honestly didn't expect visitors to arrive this early." He told us.

"Hey Marowak." Shinx greeted, in a general manner.

"Ah, Shinx. A young student with respectable motivations and a clear mind. I'm so glad you've returned. Who is the young fellow?" Marowak grasped his club tightly, unlike everything else he had modelled out of bone. His club looked like a real one.

"This here is John. He's my partner for expeditions." He proudly answered.

Marowak eyed me with curiosity. Much like everyone else here who has seen me, I'm practically an oddball at this point.

"Aside from your fashion choice you seem quite... let's say different? Physically, it's physically impossible for mudkips to stand on their hind legs for the duration your doing it," he pointed out.

"I've got a lot of odd things going on. Who knows, I might be evolving into a marshtomp. Wouldn't have to worry about feeling what it's like to be electrocuted. Then again getting hit by a blade of grass would hurt a lot more so... eh."

"Your choice of topic went a bit off track." Marowak stated before clearing his throat. "You two must be here for your training, correct?"

"Yep," Shinx replied.

"Thank Groundon, you decided to it now and not last night. The storm made this place collapse apart, I was lucky enough I got out in time. Good thing I managed to rebuild it by myself." Marowak added. "Now in case you didn't know my services don't require money of any sort. I'm more then humbled to be training a couple of rookie students as it is. Let alone pokémon from the guild."

"So how are you going do train us? A regular routine, fighting other pokémon or stat training?" I asked him.

"Follow me, everything I show you will explain anything better than I can." He pointed at the dark, square-shaped hallway with his bone-club. "This will guide you to the training mazes. Mazes are similar to dungeons. Except going through them won't exactly count as an expedition, and everyone who enters them gets equipped with an escape orb in case they get lost." He explained. "Whatever maze you choose whether it be dragon, ghost, flying and so on pokémon of that chosen type will appear. They're not wild, they're trained to help students improve in battle. Whether it be the environment, the moves or the items.

"I have TMs to spare, they won't work on me, so be my guest." He handed us one TM each. I got water pulse which deals moderate damage, and can occasionally confuse pokémon. Or make them dizzy in other words. Shinx got shock wave, a move that also deals moderate damage, but never misses its opponent.

By touching it, I could feel the electrical impulses going through my body. It was like they were instructing my brain and genetic qualities. It ended quickly, the TM I held no longer has its liquid blue colour, instead it remained a translucent grey. The same applied to Shinx, except his TM was originally yellow.

"I'd recommend you give me your items. My training mazes consist of fair fights."

Shinx handed his strapped bag. Marowak placed the bag on a rack for it to be picked up later.

"Alright, without any delay, you two shall begin the first step of your training. Follow me." Marowak ordered, we followed him into the dark hallway.

The room was pitch black, it was a near equivalent of an unfurnished medieval building. Shinx's eyes reflected some neon lighting, albeit it was faint.

"Isn't it a bit dangerous to walk in the dark?" I asked.

"Fear not child, I've got a method." Marowak held his bone club up to one of the torches (only 'till now I noticed leather was wrapped around it). The torch shared its searing flames with the bone. Marowak held it above his head. "We're going down a flight of stairs. From there on we'll be underground," he stated. "Sure hope the storm didn't do any damage to it."

The stairs were as wide as a church. It made me wonder how he built this.

"Surely, you couldn't have built all of this by yourself. This is basically a life's work for thirty pokémon. Heck probably more then that, depending on how deep this passage way goes."

"No, I didn't build it by myself. As a matter of fact, some of this is the work of my late grandfather. This was all the heritage he had, as he was a poor pokémon. Did some of it with the help of some excadrills though. I however expanded upon the dojo once I inherited it."

"My condolences," I sympathised.

"Don't let it worry you, didn't worry him. He was seventy and was as active as a jolteon. Grandfather never let his age get the better of him, and I respect that." He admitted with a stern expression, that rivalled Chatot.

Every step down these paved stairs made the whole place feel a little more deep. Since I was wearing boots, I could actually hear my footsteps echo through the dingy hallway, for every step I took, the colder it got. It wasn't until by then we were greeted by ten different pathways, each one was represented and modelled by a type in one way or another. For example the hallway, whose arches would look like the dragon course, was textured after green scales. However the caverns were blocked of by a stone wall.

Marowak began explaining the purpose of this. "I'm sure you noticed that all the mazes here are strict to one or two pokémon types. I'll tell you all the type combinations receptively.

"You have an option of either: The Normal and Flying Maze, The Dark and Fire Maze, The Rock and Water Maze, The Grass and Fairy Maze, The Electric and Steel Maze, The Ice and Ground Maze, The Fighting and Psychic Maze, The Poison and Bug maze, The Dragon Maze or The Ghost Maze." Marowak cleared his breath in exhaustion.

Shinx and I thought this through and discussed it carefully.

"We shouldn't choose a maze of our weaknesses," Shinx suggested.

"Yes, but we should, also be aware of what each type has in store for us, not just for the sack of type efficiency. I'd recommend we stay away from the ghost or dragon maze, the pokémon in there might be either too powerful, or something we haven't touched upon."

"What do you think we should choose?"

"Let's see...normal and flying's a rather bland type combination, so I don't think we'll learn anything from fighting them. Most fire types have predictable move sets, and that's from them having a preference of offence. Fighting types are extremely predictable too, but they've been combined with psychic types, which are the opposite. Water's the most common typing, so we might encounter those in other dungeons anyway. Rock types are the slowest of them all-"

"Just get to the point!" Shinx demanded.

"Okay, okay. I think we should go with The Fire and Dark Maze." I hastily concluded. "You didn't need to shout."

"Have you set your choices?" Marowak asked.

We both replied with a yes. "We chose The Fire and Dark Maze," I added.

The maze we choose had an ash-black colouring to it, mixing in with it looking volcanic or in other words hellbound.

"Here's your escape orbs. I wish you two the best of luck," Marowak assured with encouragement. He walked up to the chamber, and tapped on the stone wall with his club. I questioned why he did this, but not until the chamber itself stared shaking, almost as if an earthquake occurred. The stone wall started to slide down, albeit it in a slow and still reckless manner. After the process ended. A cavern revealed itself, steam could be seen on the flooring of it, the pathway seemed as if it didn't have an end to it.

"Watch your step, Shinx," I warned him "This place could be filled with all kinds of traps. I'll go first."

"Why? You trying to make yourself look like the leader?" Shinx jokingly responded.

"Are you implying you want me to? Or were you suggesting that you wanted to be the leader? Or possibly a democracy?" I inquired.

"Speaking of... I wanted to ask you. What do you think our team name should be called?" Shinx suggested.

I thought to myself... _'What's a combination of lighting, thunder, and tidal waves?'_ And then I thought of..."...Team Tempest. It's the name of a storm, and storms can include seas and lightning." I recommended.

"We can go with that." Shinx responded, agreeing with my choice.

"But seriously. Do you want there to be a leadership in our team? I'm fine with a democracy. Heck I'd simply hate to be the leader, because it might overshadow you. Not that it has to do with who's better then the other."

"I'll be honest, you do act like you're the leader of the group at times." Shinx stated.

"Yes, but I'm pretty sure there is or will be moments where you'll act like the leader. Come on, you know our team's fine the way it is. There's no need to change it-"

"Wait. I can see some light, it might be heat or lava," Shinx acknowledged.

I stopped in my tracks. The source of light Shinx was talking about was actually seen. It was lighting up on two different pathways.

"Whatever it is, be careful," I warned.

"I know that. But which way?" Shinx asked.

Shinx and I peered at both sides of the separated hallway, we both saw two circular tiles, each one having a red-lighted ring on the exterior. Other then that, it was a dead-end for both of us.

"Might be a button." Shinx added. "We both have to step on one each."

I did as Shinx told me to. Once I stood on these mysterious tiles, a wall opened up from my only exit, in addition to restricting all forms of communication I could perform with Shinx. By mere seconds the dead end's walls I was facing ascended. I was greeted with a volcanic environment.

I observed my surroundings. Thick liquid-orange lava waved down piles of small, crusted piles of brimstone coloured earth. The terrain was cracked, between it was bright, red lighting. I noticed it was fake, since no heat radiated from it. However it was safe to assume that the actual lava itself wasn't, heat waves swivelled around it like dancing ribbons.

A pack of houndours, poochyenas, and growlithes were grouped together. They all gave me intimidating snarls. I showed no fear, I have the type advantage overall so why would I?

A houndour, with a curved scar below his right eye, who may have been the pack leader, spoke up "It appears we have a intruder. Sure most of us are fire types, but we have the advantage in numbers." He was right about one thing, I counted out the pack. In total there were twenty-seven members: eight poochyenas, nine growlithes and eleven houndours (including the leader).

I tended to not be cocky or arrogant, but I tended not to let these rouges get the better of me. They all circled me, as a possible attempt for me to lose concentration and get nervous. As a matter of fact, heh, heh... This plan of attack worked in my favour. I formed a ball of water from my mouth, it began to spiral and wave around, I then proceeded to slam it against the ground. A ring of water spread it self out towards the pack, I got manged to get three growlithes (one of them were knocked out) and a poochyena (which was also knocked out). All the rest, however, saw right through and leaped over it.

"You're toast little fishy!" A houndour, which was notably female lunched towards me. Electric sparked around her mouth, she was using thunder fang.

I, however countered it by using a particular method. I pressed my paws together, both turning a marshy-brown colour. I slammed them against the ground, doing this produced mud around everything from the elbow down. I used this for coverage when the fiery, hell hound gnashed on it.

"Correction! I'm an amphibian!" No matter how hard the houndour bit in. The electricity wasn't able to conduct itself with my arm, she couldn't even bite in on the hard, moulded mud. I then retaliated by using water pulse. The ball of water hit the houndour point-blank, directly in her face. She fainted instantly. Funny how I put usage into a generally useless move like mud sport.

"Get him from behind!" The alpha-hound commanded.

A poochyena pounced behind me, it was only by a late reaction I could see him in my peripheral vision. He landed directly onto me. His breath started to stench an unfamiliar, yet unpleasant scent, I got a glimpse of what he was doing. Purple toxins secreted from his mouth like drool, he was planing to infect me.

I performed water gun on the ground, to give myself some ejection, unfortunately he reacted by gripping on to my shoulder with his teeth. I punched him with a glob of mud. Instantly knocking him to the ground. I turned to my shoulder to see if he did any fatal damage. Nothing, just a hole in my favourite plaid jumper. Great... But at least I didn't get poisoned.

The poochyena shock his head, he rose up as if I didn't even hit him. "Is that all?" The poochyena asked.

I checked my perimeter to see if any of the pack tried to sneak up on me. They weren't; they were just howling like a choir of some sort. Then it occurred to me, howl is a move that raises attack. They were just attacking in small numbers, so that I'd be caught of guard.

I repeated the same method, like I did when I was surrounded by them before. I formed another ball of water and slammed it against the volcanic terrain. The only one who I hit was the poochyena, that I previously smacked to the ground. He fainted.

Twenty-three remained. It's still a big number, not to mention they raised their attack stat drastically. Yet, I still don't think they've got the better of me, so long as they do what I hope they'll do.

The alpha-houndour chuckled lightly, "All right hounds! let's bombard him!"

The comrades of the pack followed their alpha's orders, however I prepared myself for this. I readied another water pulse, except I held this one in my paws. I unflinchingly charged at them, primarily the alpha; take out the alpha, and leave the rest disorientated.

"You've got some nerve. But you're a fool!" The alpha stated insultingly, to which I shrugged off. I knew what I was doing, hopefully he doesn't. The pulse I held in my paws still lingered. Five members of the pack (three growlithes one poochyena and the alpha) leaped at me in five different directions. I pushed the pulse outwards towards the scar-faced houndour. As I still held it in my palms, once it connected to him. It created a huge ripple of water, hitting all five opposing canines.

The standing members were left dazed and shocked; it was obvious they didn't see that coming. I checked the status of the pack members that I hit. All of them were knocked out.

I counted how many were still left: eighteen, two currently left with a few battle wounds.

"I suggest you flee while you can. There's no need for anyone else's pride to be shattered." I taunted, in a non-arrogant manner.

"What do we do?" A male growlithe asked.

"We fight back! We're not letting him go, after what he did to our leader!" A female poochyena recommended, she stood up amongst the pack. "And who cares if we'd get our pride smashed. I'd prefer that, rather then looking like a coward!"

I tried. It's not like I knew the hounds wouldn't back away for even their own life.

They all snarled at me with pure resentment. I prepared myself for a fight. I took a look around, to see if anything can be seen. I saw an orb, don't know what it does though, and I don't even know how to use them.

"For the sake of our cherished leader! We shall not cower!" The female poochyena incited. Her battle cry echoed throughout the maze.

All at once they came charging after me in a furious rampage. They were at a fair distance, so I decided to take a risk and nab the orb that was left lying on the floor. It was like a marble, having a blue casing with a jade green shone in the middle. I tapped the orb to see if it did anything, according what Chatot told me last afternoon, you have to hold it up, away from your face.

The pack hurtled towards me, the jade green core started to flash the moment the leading poochyena was about to jump me. After the short lasting effects of the blinding light. I couldn't believe what I saw, the entire pack was motionless. They were breathing, and they could blink and move their irises and pupils could move. But aside from that, nothing else.

The orb I picked up had a rather, let's say... extraordinary effect, I laughed in disbelief and astonishment, it was hilarious.

"I believe I've over stayed my welcome. Arrivederci!" I strolled off, away from the immobilised pack. As I walked on three different ally ways were seen. The first being north-west, the second being north and the third being north east. I fell for the centre stage effect, and went for north.

* * *

 _'Okay... I must stay calm... I must stay calm.'_ These mazes are filled with all kinds of booby traps. Thanks to my X-ray vision though, I saw right through them. The traps were made out of metal slates, they're usually hidden underneath the terrain, acting as dust, dirt or earth. I even managed to sneak past a few pokémon, thanks to my precious gift.

My main goal was to find John, and get the heck out of here. Now you think navigation would be easy. Right? WRONG! Marowak has more tricks up his sleeves then just a few detectable traps. The miniature volcanoes had a habit of erupting, the ground would break up and magma would climb out of it. I was caught in a mixture of all three.

I hopped around the ground that looked more tight. The magma was more contained there then it was in other places. Unfortunately, a stream of lava was coming towards me, welcoming me. Good thing though it's as slow as syrup. I spotted a smooth black wall. I attempted to dig my claws in it, annoyingly, the texture was too hard for me to dig my claws in. I searched for indents, they were small and high up. But I had a solution.

I warmed myself up by jumping up and down, I leaned back, so that I could land on my tail, I continuously used it as a spring. ' _I just have to pull it of at the right moment...'_ My momentum rose, with it I launched myself high enough for my claws to grab on to the loose chunks of the wall.

The lava closed in, until it engulfed the entire flooring. After I while it started to sink in. ' _Phew'_ The amount of time I spent clung to that wall felt like forever, despite being only a few seconds. I let go and landed on all fours. ' _I'm a natural'_

It's funny how I do all these incredible things, yet John's never here to see them. Well, aside from the time I saved him from Drowzee and rescued Azurill, I will never forget that day, it was so nerve-racking.

* * *

 _'Where's the exit?'_ I was greeted by nothing but a dead end. And I knew for a fact that this was the only way I could go. So... Where do I go now? I better act quickly or the remaining members of the pack may recover from their petrified state.

Normally, most pokémon would give up and leave. not me! I knew Marowak hid something inside these walls, and I think I've solved it. Most of the masonry was a different colour or shade then the other. They were put together like bricks.

I moved my paws around, them pushing each one, as if it were a button. After multiple tries I found a particular beige one, that I pushed on. It tucked itself inside the masonry wall. Upon its actions everything next to it by one metre, slowly shifted itself inside the ground, the ground reacted with a violence rumbling response.

A dark cavern was revealed, it was as dark as the hollow back of a shedinja. I lit up the cavern by using flash. The concentrated light ran through the entire cavern, I happily made my way through it.

* * *

I was wondering how Shinx's doing he's probably fine, I bet a good amount he knows what he's doing and has done this before. However this was my first time. I was lost AGAIN. But I had a few solutions. For every path that led to a dead end, I painted an X on the walls of the entrance to them, still didn't mean there were multiple, possible routes you could choose from. I haven't even finished the entire section of the north ally way. There was like nine or so, I lost count due to the fact I was too busy thinking of a way to get out of here.

I sat with my legs huddled up to my body, I needed to think. But then my mind snapped, I realised that if Shinx's section of the maze connected with mine we could both solve the solution together.

I sprinted through all the paths that didn't have an X marked on them. It was a good thing I marked the routes I walked through with a thick line or an arrow to tell me where to go if I got lost. That aside, it still didn't mean the maze as a whole, was confusing as it was. I came back to the first three openings. I used to mud sport to dig out more mud from the volcanic terrain (Using the same course of action I did, when fighting the canine pack). With it I wrote: _Shinx, if you come across this section of the maze. Choose the one in the middle._ Now with that out way, I continued from where I left off.

* * *

I travelled through the lightened corridor (which I used flash on). I came across a room which acted like an obstacle course. A straight, even stream of lava, divided two halves of the coal-coloured flooring.

Geysers would pump out of the volcanic stream. These geysers, had a pattern of their own; they would rupture out in a specific order. To start of with: two would spring out in middle of the stream, in a diagonal fashion, they'd both intertwine with each other. The second part of the pattern was two near the far end, a geyser would come after the other, once it would sink back into the lava, it did this once the two fused together.

No wonder pokémon would take Marowak as a genius. How could something like this even be considered possible? The only problem was you can't ogle something if it's a potential obstacle AND a hazard at the same time. I had to come up with another solution.

Unlike most pokémon, I know Marowak a fair bit. He was a great friend, and teacher to have around (not saying he's better than Chatot or Wigglytuff and vice-versa). And the one thing you need to know what Marowak does in these mazes, is that there'll always be an item or trick inside them.

I scavenged every little detail I could find, tried sniffing stuff out. That was pointless, as I was always greeted by the infectious smell of smoke and brimstone. I looked under every rock and stone I could, nothing in sight... Not until I found what looked like a shiny ore, bulging through the ground. I dug it up with my claws (they've become very useful).

It was riddled with ash and dust. I scraped it all off, and realised it was a wonder orb. Judging by its sandy brownish-orange colour, and the ruby-tinted core, it was a drought orb. These orbs are very rare, and are only used by pokémon with the right authority. They can drain all liquids (including lava and magma), by just slight contact.

I threw the orb into the stream of lava, the orb floated, and began to melt, like overheated steel. Once the orb sunk in: it brought the lava down with it, it was like the lava was no different to an iceberg.

However, all that did was replace a problem with another. Since the lava dissolved, there was nothing but an abyss. Sure it can go somewhere, but all I could see was fog and burnt ravine.

As stupid as it sounds, I may have to jump. Good thing Chatot gave me a lesson on velocity. And honestly i fill like I've strengthened, I might even be able to successfully pull of the move, spark.

I took a deep breath, didn't even bother to peek down the abyss, not now, not ever. _'Focus Shinx! You can do this! Just take a deep breath, and picture yourself flying. Like in the book you read with the mantyke in it.'_

My eyes were shut, my mind fixed on this one goal. The electrical currents ran through me, tinkling and pulsing. ' _You've got this. Don't picture anything else, just white, cotton clouds and a clear, blue sky. RUN, RUN! RUN AS IF IT WAS YOUR LAST DAY ON MYSTICIA! RUN AND LEAP! DON'T BACK OUT! NO MATTER WHAT!'_

I wilfully launched of the cliff side. I had it in me, I knew I did. While the electric flowed through me and engulfed my body. I spiralled in the air, performing a somewhat dazzling somersault of sparkling electricity. I didn't feel anything beneath me, heck I wasn't even sure if I made it, or if I was even going in the right direction.

 _'Whatever you do. DON'T OPEN YOUR EYES! DON'T! YOU'RE DOING FINE!'_ I continuously told myself what to do. I could feel it. I was flying! I crash landed on the other side of the abyss's half. I made it, I couldn't believe myself! I made it!

"You've got some nerve, stepping foot in my territory!" An unseen figure announced. His voice travelled through the entire cave. I couldn't tell where he was. "Bet you can't see me. can ya'? Want me to reveal myself?" He asked in a brutish tone. "HERE I COME!" His voice echoed twice over. Before I could even see him, the ground vibrated slightly.

"Turn around! I'm right behind ya'." I obeyed his orders. The pokémon turned out to be a magmar. The fire on his tail and head burnt intensely. His eyes remained beady. "Better go back to the other side pally. I don't tolerate with intruders." Whenever he spoke the 'P' sound, he'd always spit a molten, hot fluid out of his bill-shaped lips. Yet it was hard to tell if he did it intentionally or not.

"I'm not going back." I responded. "Not after what I did to get here in the first place."

"Are you sure about that? You've got one last warning." He slowly walked up to me, with an intimidating glare. I already knew he'd fight me if I didn't follow his orders. "So be it! I'm gonna make you regret this!" I responded by charging up the electricity inside me. This'll power up my electric-type moves, and raise my special defence.

"No, I think you'll regret it!"

"Time to use Smokescreen!" He expelled large quantity of smoke, from his mouth. All of the smoke surrounded me. I was left coughing up, and couldn't see anything. "Ha! Now you don't know where I am!" Despite his continuous taunting, I couldn't pinpoint where he was, as his voice echoed from how hollow this place was.

Moving anywhere at this moment would be extremely dangerous, as I can't tell where the cliff side's at. All I could do was cough up from all the smoke. I decided the best course of action would be using shock wave. The charged electricity flowed through my body. The cyan sparks formed an orb of electric. It started to fire a vertical, straight, zig-zag wave towards my opposing direction.

The shock wave connected with the magmar I was fighting. He screeched upon contact. I still couldn't see him though, but now I know where he is.

I prepared for a spark attack. The yellow electricity surrounded me, I ran straight my foe. Once I saw him I was ready to lunge.

He gasped at the sudden movement, I rammed at him with full force. I hit him with all my might, he dealt a bit of damage, only to counter by pushing at me with his fists, which until now I realised, they were both engulfed by fire. We were putting two-and-two together, electric against fire.

"You... Won't... win this!" His anger, only gave him more strength. I had no other means of fighting back. He was overpowering me!

"I'm not going to back down, no matter how hard you try!" I informed. This is my victory. Mine! And he won't take that away from me! My first independent fight! This is my achievement! No one else's!

The magmar started to gain excitement. No more anger was displayed on his face. "I will win this! You know that! you're simply in denial!" As soon as he got the better of me, he started to ninety degrees anti-clockwise (from my perspective), I noticed he was trying to push me in the abyss. "Ha, ha! You're finished runt!" A nefarious smile formed on his daft bill-like mouth.

I didn't respond in any way. I simply tried to push my way past him. Rather than go straight towards him, I tried to escape from his force, by running off to the side of him.

"WHOA!" The magmar twisted round and started losing his balance. He was barely on the edge of the mouth of the abyss. As soon as he got back on his feet. His plan was to ambush me, with physical force. I remained motionless, and countered it by using flash. "Arghh, my eyes!" The gleam of light blinded him greatly. He couldn't keep focus of what he was doing, this lead to he stepping back, and falling into the abyss. I ran as fast as I could, so I'd be able to help him. Sadly, it was too late.

"AUGHHH!" His fearful screams rang through the abyss. As he fell deeper into it, he was consumed by the pit's shadows.

I couldn't believe what I saw. For the first time in my life. I saw somebody scream for their very fate. I saw someone's demise. No, I let someone fall to their demise. I'm didn't even know if he was actually dead. But it was unfortunate to assume.

I had to let it go, I was warned about the dangers of exploring, and this is the start of it.

My mind was snapped out of its trance, when I felt the ground shake violently. I turned around in all directions, only to be saved by relief, once I found out it was just another one of those stone doors opening upwards. I proceeded to the next stage.

* * *

I've been in this darn maze for who knows how long, and I still haven't made any progress. I fell on the floor back first in exhaustion. I wasn't going to give up, but every path just led to more paths, marking them has only done so little.

I questioned how long I've been here. I was positive it was no less than a day, it had to be a couple of hours or so. I urged myself to get back up, my mind said yes, but my body said no. I used every muscle I could. I can't give up yet, I've only began this challenge.

I arose from my lazed stance, I slowly, but progressively, made my way to whatever this narrow pathway had in stock for me... Another dead end.

I convinced myself not to lose my cool. Surely this had to be a test of patience, If so, I can only wish I'd pass at this particular moment. Yet when I got to the dead end, something seemed rather abnormal, or let's say different. The wall looked as if it slightly rotated clockwise. I pushed on the wall with pure determination. I could hear it scraping against the ground.

Despite that, I couldn't get it to do much else. If only I'd learned strength (which gave back memories of that spinda).

It wasn't until I saw a little shimmer, that pestered my right eye. I turned to its direction and noticed a disc. I instantly knew it was a TM of some sort. Convenience has stuck me, upon uncovering it, it wasn't a TM, but rather a HM (hidden move), its silver poly-carbonate suggested that it was a normal type move. I inspected it for further information. A label read: _HM04_ , with this in mind, it was definitely the move strength.

I clutched the HM tightly, expecting it to teach me its contents. The impulses ran through me signifying what to do, and how to do it. My paws glowed an illuminating white colour. I forced them against the the stone wall, as it began rotating at a somewhat quicker speed, albeit it was still at a slow rate.

I left the stone slab at a slightly askew, vertical angle, even though I was debating in my mind whether I should leave as it is, or try to put it back the way it was for the sake of other contributors finding out by themselves. _'Just leave it the way it is.'_ I thought to myself.

Still. I'm kind of ticked off that something like that was easy to overlook. Better make a mental note about it, for future's sake. The chamber I entered, lacked any source of light, faint cinders of fire, barely showed anything. I began to think of many non-hazardous ways to strengthen a fire. I gained a habit of pinching and pulling my mudkip cheeks.

Ughh. This section's presentation alone was unnerving, simply for the dark alone. Not for what it is, but what it's hiding. This is a trap, it had to be. It feels like something is... lurking, like in those thriller movies.

Mild twitching occurred on my head's fin. I know this kind of reflex, it's acting like a radar, something's stalking me. Eerie scratching was heard across the chamber's paving. Whatever it is, it knows I'm here. I listened with caution. I can't afford any mistakes... It was on my right!

I was pulled back by a lifting force, definitely telekinesis.

"Hee, hee, thought you would've detected that, didn't you?" The voice belonged to a female, her tone displayed mocking perkiness. "Bet ya, can't see me can ya? Let's light up this room."

She exhaled a large streak of fire. It connected with a hanging torch. The fire reduced the majority of the dark, the light uncovered the pokémon's identity, it was a ninetales.

"What'ya going'na do now? You're trapped in my psychic force." I was encased by a flowing, magenta, energy. The only body parts I could move were my limps, head and anything on my face.

No matter, I've been in this kind of situation before, just got to fire my water pulse. As I shot the ball of water from my mouth, the ninetales dodged it with little effort.

"Wow... That was... predictable. My turn!" With the power of her telekinesis, she slammed me straight in the wall. The impact hit the back of my head, linking it with my optical-cortex. My vision blurred, with my head throbbing.

I focused my eyes on the ninetales, she formed what looked like a golden orb, with her glowing eyes, she then launched it at me. The orb began circling me, like a herd of knats. Due to my (hopefully) temporary concussion, I couldn't pinpoint its speed, from what I saw, it just kept flying around me.

From that moment I knew what move she was using; it was confuse ray. I tried to get away from the bright orb, all it did was follow me. The light paused the moment it reached my forehead. An instantaneous flash was followed by it. I was left with ringing in my head, and a further hindered vision, I lost all senses of direction or thought, one thing just over took the other.

"Heh, heh. Your struggles are so amusing. Burn!" With her fiery breath, she used another flamethrower.

The fire slid past my face The heat was just enough to humidified the moisture in my eyes. I could feel searing on the right side of my cheek.

Now... I need analysis. Ninetales specialises in special attacking. Has mediocre physical defence, a somewhat decent special defence, which is kind of wasted by its below average HP, moderate special attack and half decent speed. Nothing too threatening.

Ninetalses... Ninetalsi?... Whatever the plural is; they are notable for inducing burns and confusion (the latter I'm currently dealing with), general move pool of: psychic, fire, grass and ghost.

I wasn't going to let my current status overpower me. I focused my gaze on the ninetales, trying to see what else she has in stock for me. Particles of dark-purple aura was flowing inside her mouth, when she exhaled it, the aura started condensing with each other, creating a ball in the process. It shot towards me, but I jumped out of the way with little to no delay.

I then fired another water pulse at the ninetales. The ball of water sent her flying off her feet, she got back up in a matter of seconds.

 _'I've got this.'_ I smiled with pure confidence. There are numerous ways I can take the nine tailed fox out, given that my I can make my surroundings work in my favour. One thing to note about this chamber, is that it used stone lanterns, they were almost the size of a litter bin.

"I see what ya trying to do. You're going to throw that at me, ain't ya?" She used her telekinetic powers to lift it off the ground. The stone lantern was surrounded by a magenta lining. "Too bad, chap! I'm throwin' it at ya!"

The stone lantern came at me quicker then I could blink, good thing I countered it with strength. I outstretched my palms, in addition to holding it down, so the ninetales can't lift it back up with her psychic attacks.

I peeked over to the edge to see what she was doing. She charged up another ball of kinetic energy, only this one was green, suggesting it was the move energy ball.

I backed away from the lantern, but only by a short distance as I still wanted cover. Thanks to the lantern, the ninetales won't see my water pulse attack coming. I readied my attack.

Thanks to my head-fin, I actually sensed the attack, without the need of seeing it. It was coming. The stone lantern was demolished by the grass-typed energy. Clouds of gravel emerged from the detonation, that's my cue. I fired the ball of water at the golden canine. She fainted upon impact.

My victory was interrupted by the sound of the rising stone doors, I was given permission to proceed.

Red lighting could be seen emitting from the end of it. The same lighting I encountered from the beginning. I came across another tile with the same red-lined exterior. I stood on it, the flooring started rising as if it were a form of elevation, the ceiling opened up by sliding to the right.

Once the elevating process was finished, I was taken back to the split paths. I made my way out the maze.

I waited at the entrance to the maze, not knowing Marowak was there, we both surprised each other "Ohh!" He exclaimed, "Didn't see you there... It's come to my intentions that you've completed the maze?"

I simply replied saying "Yes"

"Good. Your friend, Shinx has also completed the maze. I must congratulate you both. Well done." He praised, with an orb in his hand. "With special orbs like these, I was able to see how you did with my mazes. I took a look at both of your skills in combat, needless to say, I'm impressed. I noticed you also marked the labyrinth section, John. While Shinx was never able to meet up there anyway, thinking about something like that was rather smart."

Shinx was standing near the stairway, he greeted me with a wave from his paw. "Also, Shinx..." Marowak spoke once more. "Your manoeuvring skills were suburb, as was your stealth and battle skills." He added. "Also that Magmar you pushed in the abyss, he's fine, there were light beams at the very bottom which would've warped him somewhere safe.

"I'm guessing that's it for today?" I asked. "we'll see you some other time."

"I can hope so." Marowak responded.

* * *

We were standing on the crossroads, it was already dusk. The sky held a mandarin-orange colour, making the clouds look red.

"Come on you stupid thing, move! Aughh, this is pointless!" I heard someone whining from the distance, realised it was Spinda.

"I see that you may acquire some assistance. May I help?" I asked.

"Sure, thanks," he happily responded.

I used strength on the boulder, from where I was pushing it I nearly fell down, a pit of some sort.

"Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention there was a hole. Thanks again!" He went down the pit, from what I saw, a set of stairs were placed in it.

"We should get back to the guild," Shinx recommended. As we did just that.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

 **-Since this is the longest chapter so far (with a total of at least 10,000 words), I was wondering. Do you readers wanted the chapters to be shorter, or remain the way I'm currently making them? Please let me know for future purposes.**


	7. The Investigation of Waterfall Cave

**Chapter 7: The Investigation of Waterfall Cave**

Apprehension struck me the more we delved into the land of Treeshroud Forest. The amber sky was sure to descend to night at any moment. I still can't believe a pokémon would commit such a treacherous act. It must be put to an end, the flow of time is dependent on our objective.

"Hey Chatot. You seem deep in thought. Is this situation bothering you?" Concerned as he sounded, I looked at Wigglytuff, ready to reply.

"Yes... It does. Yet what I fear most of all is that the vision John saw may have already happened." Wigglytuff considered this. His smile of assurance changed as he pinched the tip of his mouth.

"I can see why that might bother you. But trust me. Even if this time thief succeeds at taking the time gear, we can arrange the guild to warn the guardians."

"...That seems like the rational thing to do. What about the time thief himself?"

"We'll deal with him later. What's important now is that he doesn't steal them to begin with." He began to take this subject seriously. His childish, cheery face quickly turned to a startled expression, once we arrived at our destination. I, too, was also startled.

It was like the legends described it. Everything from a ten metre radius shown a dull, lifeless grey colour. The dew drops on the leaves never fell, the wind's presence was not felt, the only thing that was still present was the oxygen. And that was a limited amount. Everything felt... cold, miserable... A living like this could drain a pokémon's sanity.

"It appears that we're too late." I never felt so down in my life. The sight alone was depressing.

"We shouldn't let this hinder us. Chatot, I know this situation is beyond life-threatening. But there have been catastrophes like this centuries ago, it's safe to assume we're no different to the pokémon that faced them." Despite not looking or sounding too worried, Wigglytuff did show sincere concern.

At a corner of my eye I witnessed something devastating. Pure horror at its worst. A flabébé was merged with the dull landscape, in addition, it was also grey and lifeless. Almost as if it were a statue. I gagged in terror.

"Chatot? What's wrong?" I couldn't answer. All I could do is point with my right wing.

Wigglytuff succumbed to grief, upon witnessing the sorrowful fate of this victim.

"Do you think she's..." I couldn't finish my sentence. The dismay that I was inflicted with wouldn't allow it.

"I... Don't know. If you take a look at the plants around us, they're still in the living form. But I'm not sure that'll last." Even Wigglytuff wasn't able to complete his sentence. "...These visions that John had. Could we use them to our advantage?"

"Hard to tell... This attribute John bares could surpass the capabilities of future sight. Barely anyone can utilise that move to their fullest, let alone explore it."

* * *

We sat ourselves behind the table of the mess hall. Even Trubbish and Grimer (who joined a mission with Shinx) sat in two of the three spare seats.

"So you're telling me, people used this magical item called the 'the internet' and put 'photos' of what they're about to eat?" Shinx asked at the dining table, awaiting for Wiggytuff and Chatot's arrival. "You're kidding aren't you?"

"Nope, people do a lot of pointless stuff on it, when they could easily discover answers to nearly everything. It's stupid." At this point, the stuff I'd talk about were like journeys of their own, the way everyone was struck in awe surprised me.

"WHAT ELSE DO YOU HUMANS HAVE?!" Loudred practically demanded. "FROM WHAT CHATOT TOLD ME, YOU LOT KEPT POKÉMON IN TINY BALLS!"

"If you remember me discussing this three nights ago, you would've known that's the wrong dimension. There's no pokémon where I am, but a great portion of us have quite some knowledge about them," I explained. "And before any of you answer: no we don't do inter-dimensional studies, heck we only thought of alternate universes as a possibility. Nor were we aware of a universe where pokémon are dominant." I know what I said made no sense in the slightest, but it was just fun telling all these stories.

"So... Shinx you said a magmar fell into a pit when you were battling him. What happened to him?" Sunflora asked nervously, bringing Marowak's Dojo back into the conversation.

"Oh, he's fine. Turns out the pit had beams of light, which teleport you to a certain location, at the bottom of it," Shinx explained. "Marowak certainly had me fooled."

The widow outside displayed a cosmic blue colour the moon reflected the right side of its face. Chatot and The Guildmaster have been gone for a while. It was only until now I realised one major problem: there's no sign of a storm; not even rain. The vision's events occured last night.

"Sayyy, does anyone know where Guildmaster and Chatot went?" Bidoof inquired. "They only go on expeditions together if it's really important, yup, yup."

Everyone surveyed each other, looking for an answer. I was the only one that knew their whereabouts.

"Hey, hey, maybe they're doing something top secret," Corphish suggested. Everyone doubted that.

The cries of hoothoots and noctowls travelled through the evenings flow.

"It's midnight," Croagunk pointed out. "Perhaps they're lost or stayed for the night."

"I have them on my communic-orb. I'll contact one of them."

Shinx put his paw on the orb moving it around in circles as if he were stroking it. The orb surrounded itself with a weak, cyan glow.

"Chatot? Guildmaster? You there" He held the orb next to his ear, expecting an answer.

 ** _"Shinx! Are you aware what time of that it is?!"_** Chatot demanded in a hushed, stressed tone.

"We're waiting for you two. What's taking so long?" Shinx impatiently waited for an answer.

 ** _"T-The time gear - the one in Treeshroud Forest. It's been taken!"_** Everyone in the room expressed a state of bewildered dismay. Loudred trampled through the line of chairs, just to snatch the orb from Shinx.

"Hey!-" Before Shinx could protest, Loudred drowned out his voice.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN A TIME GEAR'S BEEN TAKEN!? YOU BETTER BE JOKING!" Due to the shock Loudred received, his tempo reached a new record. The guild squeezed the sides of their heads, begging for it to stop. Diglett and Dugtrio, who had no hands, had to bare the unfortunate pain of the boom-blasting pokémon.

 ** _"I'm telling the truth! Keep your voice down! The pain of your ahouting can be heard from my own orb!"_**

"DO YOU KNOW WHO DID IT!?" Tick marks were seen on Loudred's forehead, it was as if they were trying to forcefully escape by ripping through his flesh. "I SWEAR WHEN I FIND OUT WHO DID THIS I'LL CLO-" Loudred's long winded tantrum was interrupted and stopped by Shinx when he snatched the orb back. "GIVE THAT BACK! I WASN'T FINISHED!" Blood started rushing to the ill-tempered creature, the red liquid escaped his nostrils. His body responded by fainting face first into the floor; a trembling slam followed.

The guild was left with silent fright. "He'll be fine," Dugtrio assured, washing away the majority of concern from the guild.

 ** _"Shinx? Is that you?"_** The voice of Wigglytuff was heard through the orb. Unlike Chatot, Wigglytuff approached this conversation much calmer, yet still as serious. It contrasted from his odd, jolly behaviour.

"Yeah, it's me." Shinx replied.

 ** _"Good. Now, if the entire guild is present, I want them to hear what I'm about to say."_**

"Yup, yup. We're all here Guildmaster." Bidoof informed.

 _ **"Alright then. We're planning a big, big exploration. We're going to travel to Steam Cave to warn Uxie, the supposed guardian of one of the time gears, that there's a thief hanging about. We're unsure of the thief's motivations, nor do we know who he is. All we know is that he's male. Now! Getting to Steam Cave will be very, very difficult, as we have to travel through many dungeons, caves and possibly mountains, plus we don't actually know where exactly the time gear or Steam Cave is, or for that matter, what lies ahead... Did everybody get that?"**_

The guild (Trubbish and Grimer included), replied with either: 'yes', 'yep', or 'affirmative', excluding Loudred who was still in an unconscious state.

 ** _"Great!"_** This was when the Guild Master's tone returned happy and innocent. **_"Also, Pokés? We may not make it for dinner so you could go ahead and eat without us. I apologise for the inconvenience, Chatot and I will camp out and eat what we have. Got that?"_**

Everyone once again replied with something similar to 'yes', even Loudred (who had regained consciousness).

"What happened?" He asked in a weak tone. He caressed his forehead, attempting to recover from the blunt force he had received.

* * *

"You okay, Chatot?" The sight he just witnessed really had an effect on him.

"Hmm? Pardon?" He seemed a bit off, he didn't bother to eat much. All he did was dwell on what happened.

"Look, I know what we just saw was traumatising. But we shouldn't think of it too much. Sure, somebody's trying to stop time, but it's not like we can't stop them." I forced a reassuring smile. Even I'm a bit caught up in it, despite my expressions.

"Wigglytuff, haven't you heard how unhealthy it is to hide your emotions. I get what you're trying to do, but you can't ignore what we just saw. Nobody would."

"Calm yourself, Chatot. We have a plan. The guardians of the time gears have power beyond our own, there's no way the thief will succeed, not ever."

"That's true... After all, the gear that resided in this forest was left unprotected." Good, I managed to brighten him up. To think I'd have doubts myself, silly me.

* * *

"SLACKING TIME'S OVER, IT'S MORNING!" Loudred announced in our rooms. To his surprise, our canals denied most of his voice's entrance, thanks to a particular accessory. Bear in mind that I said most of it.

"Arghh, even with these things on, your voice still rings through my ears!" Shinx stated. It was obvious the ear muffs weren't enough.

"EARMUFFS?! REALLY!? YOU THINK A PIECE OF COTTON WILL BLOCK OUT MY VOICE?!" Loudred boasted proudly, despite hating laziness it was clear, he embraced the gift genetics gave him.

"I tried," I admitted. "Although, I could find another method."

"YOU WON'T! MY VOICE WILL STRIKE THROUGH EVERYONE'S EARS, NO MATTER WHO THEY ARE OR WHAT THEY USE!" _(What if they had the soundproof ability?)_ He stormed out the room refusing to prolong this argument. We left behind him.

The assembly of pokémon lined up as usual. Wigglytuff and Chatot were still absent. Sunflora left the lineup and faced the assembly.

"Okay... since Chatot and the Guildmaster have not come back yet. I shall do the daily briefing." Her smile beamed throughout the room. I could hear Loudred mumbling 'Great,' sarcastically. From what I heard the two bicker a lot. "Repeat after me everybody; a one! A two! A one, two, three, fourr...

"ONE: RUN AWAY AND PAY!

"TWO: DON'T SHIRK WORK!

"AND THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!" I began to notice Loudred's voice wasn't as loud as usual. I guessed he couldn't stand Sunflora's bright attitude towards everything, I'm not sure.

"Okay everyone. Time for another day of exploring!" It seemed as if she repeated the words of her leaders. A minor thing like this apparently made Sunflora's pride rise.

"HOORAY!" Everybody cheered... All except loudred who chanted it melodramatically. And I could tell it wasn't from the repetition.

"Okay... From what I've gathered our tasks have been put in the Guildmaster's chamber. He was so kind to leave it unlocked for us." Sunflora entered Wigglytuff's room, which was probably the worst time for it, as we saw Wigglytuff and Chatot climb down the ladders of the Guild.

"Hiya everyone! Chatot and I are back! I know there've been some problems but I can-"

"Where's Sunflora?" Chatot interrupted. Everybody looked amongst themselves, as they didn't want to be the one to snitch. Bidoof (the only one who wasn't conflicted with it) told Chatot without realisation, of the outcome.

"She's in the Guildmaster's chamber. She did the morning briefing, and got the list of everybody's tasks, since you lot weren't here, yup yup."

"And you let her? Without hesitation or resistance?" Chatot asked. He gave Bidoof a beady, bird-eyed look.

"Erm... er." Bidoof was unsure of how to answer Chatot's question. Croagunk notably grinned slightly.

"Found them!" Sunflora announced. "Oh, Chatot, Guildmaster. You're back."

"Sunflora. What were you doing in the Guildmaster's chamber? Were you given authorisation?" Chatot gave Sunflora the same look he gave Bidoof.

A state of shock struck Sunflora "Oh my gosh! It's not what it seems- The door was unlocked and I thought I was allowed in and-"

"Chatot. I left the door open on purpose. You know that," Wigglytuff said, even when giving a lecture, his smile is still shown. Chatot was left dumbfounded.

"Now back to what I said: it's time for another day of exploring!" Sunflora remarked. The guild collected their tasks from Sunflora.

I read the parchment I received. "So... it seems that we're investigating this mysterious Waterfall Cave. Why may I ask, just out of curiosity?"

"We thought It would be time to assign you a job worthy of an exploration team." Chatot informed me. "If I may: can I borrow your map?" Shinx quickly backtracked to his room. He handed Chatot the unfolded map. "Grand, now both of you, come here, please." We did as he told, the map contained various environmental locations. Tiny islands were on the outskirts of Mysticia, thankfully the exploration is nowhere near them. Mysticia by itself was a rather big island compared to its neighbouring islands. It had a continental look to it, it oddly looked like the shape of an arceus's head (or at least the way I saw it).

Chatot pointed to the near corner of the South-East. "This is Treasure Town." He pointed to a symbol resembling a group of tipis. Not to far off by its diagonal-left, we saw a waterfall formed by ruins which created a stream (that stream being Serenity River). "See this ruin, here? A waterfall is flowing down it. That's your destination. Upon first visit, it may just look like a regular waterfall. But you could say it's _hiding_ something. Perhaps something secret?"

"There's a cave behind it," I suggested. "The only problem would be the pure force of the tide itself will crush us, in other words: kill us. I doubt we'd get through unless if we were to learn something to overcome it. One example being the move waterfall."

"But that's where we arrive to another problem. HMs are very hard to find, you were lucky to come across with the move strength."

"How did you know that?" I asked.

"Marowak told me the results, but that's for another discussion. Ahem, I sadly don't have the HM, I wouldn't have a clue of who had one either."

"Croagunk, maybe?" Shinx suggested.

"He often shares HMs and TMs with the guild. So that's unlikely," Chatot stated. By the looks of it, we'll have to find another way. "But who knows, you might not even need it. There is always more than one solution to a problem, no matter how complex or vague. Now, my conversation with you two is done. I'll be looking forward to the feedback of your journey." He then paused in motion for a second, hiding his reluctance. "...Actually I need a private talk with John. I'll make it brief."

"Wait. What for?" Shinx asked. Although I'm sure he's caught along the line what we may be talking about.

"Like I said, it's private." Chatot's stern expression returned.

* * *

Along the outskirts, Chatot discussed the situation, where our voices would be sheltered by the trees.

"If I haven't made it obvious enough, I was going to discuss your visions. Have you found out how they work yet? At a time like this, those visions could help us in finding the time gears... or the thief for that matter."

"No, I don't know how they work, they just do. I could get them tested by a psychic, or someone with knowledge about this."

"Very few pokémon can use future-sight to their fullest, and even then there's limitations. You have gone beyond them, despite your kind not knowing any source close to it." Chatot looked to the ground, he seemed to be thinking things through. "I can only think of three pokémon who'd be able to help you with this 'power': Xatu, Torkoal or Chimecho; the third of which is unlikely, as she has limited knowledge and usage with future sight. Our best bet is either Torkoal or Xatu. We'll settle that for another day, tomorrow preferably."

"Is that all I should know?" I ask, Chatot responded with a nod.

"You should get back to Shinx. I'd imagine he'd be looking for you." He prepares his wings for flight, but before he can take off, I interrupt him.

"Wait. Who do you think should know? To be honest the only pokémon I trust with this information is you, Shinx and Wigglytuff. Would you suggest anyone else."

Chatot replied "You ask who you please. I or Wigglytuff have no control over your choices." He assured me "Now I must be off." He flew from the ground, and disbanded the conversation for good.

A presence could be felt from my fin.

"I heard everything, by the way." It was Shinx, and judging by his tone he was not happy. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I turned to his direction. "You're making this sound like a big deal... it's not." I told him "...The reason why I didn't tell you: I don't have one. I thought if I asked Chatot of all pokémon, he might've known the answer. And if you heard everything, you'd have heard me saying that, you're one of the few I trust, so it's not like I don't."

Shinx seemed pleased with the answer "So you can see the future then? Is it possible you could win the raffle at Spinda's Café?"

"That's not how it works." I said blankly. "Though if you want to try out the raffle, I won't stop you.

"Then let's go. No use wasting time here."

* * *

On the exterior of the crossroad's paths. Spinda greeted me with a wave, which was directed by his whole body, though when he did it, he began to wobble around.

"There you are, my mysterious buddy!" Spinda exclaimed with a round of excitement (I hope he doesn't call me that again). "My café is below this staircase. Follow me, and I'll show you all the festive wonders of my property.

The rhythmic beat of tropical, steel drums, bursted through the entrance. The music felt like it was from Hawaii of all countries. As the music implied, there were metal drums in the underground café. They were being played by a group of three cacnea, all keeping in tune with each other, a breloom had a bongo drum strapped to himself, he beat the drum with a continuous ostinato, alongside a tangrowth, whose size greatly outnumbered his peers, he played a brass xylophone that acted as background music. In front of them sat a straw hat with a few coins in it, a billboard beside it read _'donations for the needy.'_

"I see that your eyes have been caught on the band," Spinda stated. "They call themselves the Botanical Melody, they're helping wild pokémon find homes and avoid crime. Their generosity is very heart-warming."

The café had a wooden flooring, resembling oak; swirl patterns, like the ones you see on swiss rolls decorated the flooring. Much like the Guild's layout, it shared an oblong exterior, spotlights from a non-electrical source focused on the band, wooden tables with a circular base were spread out, along the area.

"My hopes and dreams, all set in an image. I really hope this place is sure to inspire many pokémon, to achieve their own goals." Rushes of euphoria relentlessly latched on to Spinda. He was giggling and swaying back and forth, leaving myself unsure if he struggled to stay still, or danced to the beat of the band's music.

Two stalls, one on the left, top corner; the other on the right, top, end corner. The left displayed a shelf of fruit and juice mixes. "That's my juice bar. You can either pay for a smoothie made with my ingredients, or use your own with no charge." The red spotted pokémon rushed to his stall (almost bumbing into customers and tables on the way). "Everybody! I'm proud to announce the juice bar is opennnn!" Spinda cheered, the customers surrounded the bar. A pachirisu in particular was the most eager to start. Trubbish and Grimer were amongst the crowed, though most cleared their distance from them, to which they scratched their heads in confusion.

"John, Shinx! Come here! Can have the first samples." Spinda handed both Shinx and I a glass of tropical smoothies. "It's a mix of oran berries, razz berries, payapa berries and bluk berries. Enjoy!" I gulped down the sample of the smoothie, it had such a fresh taste to it, the taste was so sweet and sugary, quite addictive too. My mind begged for more, but I didn't want to hold up at the line, so I moved on to the other booth.

The second stall had a cutout of a wynaut's head on the top, with palm bushes on the sill of the booth. A wynaut and wobbufett attended it. We decided to visit that booth as it had less of a line. The pokémon in front was an octillery. He had a massive sack behind him, for some reason. A swellow, wurmple and purrloin were between the line repectively

The octillery had a posh accent. He opened up his sack with his two, front tentacles, digging through his inventory. "I'm going to win big this time." With the number of items he had, he held up the line.

The purrloin spoke out from the queue. "Go ahead, take your time; nobody's waiting or anything." She spoke in a sarcastic, sassy tone. She looked around the café suspiciously, almost as if she was looking for somebody, or somebody may be looking for her, though it could just be me thinking about it too much.

"Hey Shinx. You trying out the recycling lotto they have there?" Trubbish asked, as he waited in the line behind us with Grimer. Their smoothie glasses were stained by the mucky substances that were their hands.

"I have my items. May I acquire a ticket, please?" The octillery asked.

"What colour? Red, blue or yellow?" The wynaut asked.

"Blue, please," The octillery requested.

"Right! Blue!" The wobbufett exclaimed, the lipstick on it's mouth indicated it was female.

"Is it a win, or not?" the wynaut asked. the wobbufett scratched the card and shook her head in a horizontal manner. "Is it a win, or not?" The wobbufett repeated the same action. The wynaut gaped his mouth open in shock. "Wait! Don't tell me! It's a big win isn't it?" The wobbufett went completely silent in doubt. "...Wait, it's a loss isn't it?" The wynaut asked again.

"That's right!" wobbufett announced. I wasn't exactly sure why she beamed it in a cheerful tone.

"No, this is my seventh try!" The octillery lamented, his tentacles were twisted in hope that he'd have won.

"Sorry for getting your hopes up." The wynaut apologised in a sincere manner. "here's a consolation prize."

"A max elixir?" The octillery seemed in no way in shape or form pleased with what he got. "Oh, well... I guess I'll try out the smoothie bar Pachirisu's been pestering me about." He seemed a tad gloomy after the results of the lottery

"Finally," the purloin in front muttered "I'd thought he'd never leave."

Trubbish and Grimer leaned over the side of the queue. "That pokémon looks familiar." Grimer whispered to Trubbish, he nodded in agreement.

"...Wait... That's the purloin Croagunk spotted at the Hoodlum's camp. It's her." Trubbish whispered back. "What should we do? Wait for her turn in the line to finish? Or should we confront her now?"

Shinx, hearing their conversation, joined in on it. "What do you mean, she was at the camp?" The purrloin turned her head so often, it was nothing short of a coincidence. Whatever was going on with the camp, I didn't know about. But this purrloin seemed paranoid, she must've overheard their discussion, either by the fact she is the purrloin that was at the camp or an innocent bystander. Chances are though, it's the former.

"I'm going to confront her." Trubbish informed the two. He left the line, only to stand next to the purrloin "Excuse me miss, but I believe-"

"If you think I'm part of the Hoodlum Gang, I'm not. I shall discuss no further." She seemed to know who they are, but that's all she said, although she could have been lying.

"Apologies ma'am, but please, can we talk about this after?" Trubbish asked.

"Like I said, there's nothing I want to discuss with you. Now please leave." A trace of agitation was hinted through the young purrloin's words. Trubbish noticed this himself, and decided to take the morale high-ground.

After for what seemed like hours and some pokémon's denied hope, it was our turn in line. Shinx looked over himself as he saw the purrloin leave. "I'm going after her. From what she's been saying I might be able to learn more about the Hoodlum Gang."

"Just don't act like a stalker." I told him, jokingly as he left in a hurry, climbing the flight of stairs. I looked over to Trubbish and Grimer "Don't follow him. If you do, the purrloin will likely flee from being outnumbered." They both replied with a nod.

"Welcome to the recycling shop! I'm Wynaut, and this is Wobbufett" The wynaut greeted, as I moved to the booth.

"That's right!" Wobbufett exclaimed, it seemed to be her catchphrase, as that's the only thing she said.

"The café Spinda created is wonderful, is it not? The recycling shop is exactly what it sounds! You recycle items that clog up space in your inventory and/or don't need, for other items. Confident, is it not?"

"What do you recycle? Food? Orbs?" I asked him.

"That's right!" The wobbufett exclaimed.

"Yes we recycle both of those." The wynaut added. "We also recycle specs and scarfs that have additional effects. We also have a raffle. Top prize is the HM waterfall." (convenience!)

"How do I participate?" I asked Wynaut.

"All you need is four items." Dang it. I realised Shinx was the one with the bag, and if I moved I'd lose my spot in the line.

"You don't have anything. Do you?" Grimer inquired "No worries , we have items for ya'. And don't bother arguing, we were gonna use them anyway." Grimer gave me a handful of grimy berries, all sticky and purple. I gave them to Wynaut.

"Here's your prize ticket." Wynaut stated, the ticket was green with three squares covered with film. "Do you wish to redeem your ticket now?" He asked, to which I replied 'Yes'.

Wobbufett began the card-scratching process. "Is it a win or not?" Wynaut asked.

"...That's right!"

"Is that so? That's not too bad." From what Wynaut suggested, I didn't win "Here's your prize." Wynaut gave me a sitrus berry, which for some reason is spelt with an 'S'. This must be the work of the Americans corrupting our language again.

"Okay. So now it's our turn." Grimer said.

"Go ahead." I told him

* * *

That Purrloin was very sneaky, I've been tracking her down in Treasure Town's woods for a while. Even though I have X-ray vision, that still won't make her not flee if she sees me. In fact, she's moving so fast and swiftly, I can't tell if she's seen me. She might be playing games with me for all I know... I lost her, dang it.

"Didn't your mother tell you to not stalk girls?" The purrloin was behind me, how she moved that quickly without being seen, I'll never know. But is she really part of the Hoodlum Gang? I turned around and attempted to speak to her, but she interrupted me. "You're asking about the Hoodlum Gang aren't you?" She asked. "But first you must tell me who their leader is, where you found them, and proof that you're not just a random civilian."

"Why would a civilian go out of their way to find answers to something that they eavesdropped?"

"There's always one... Now answer me those three things I told you." She cocked her head slightly to the right, a possible method to test if I'm telling the truth.

"Their leader is Scrafty, he's male and has an off-putting voice. I saw him at Serenity River; he almost beat me up, but I managed to escape, even though my friends weren't. And I'm part of the guild." I tapped the badge, which was pinned to my black fur on my chest. The badge was white, with yellow wings and a bronze jewel on it.

"You're simply a bronze rank, that alone won't get you to deal with someone like Scrafty."

"My guildmaster and his acquaintance underestimated the mission I was given; they admitted it themselves." I explained to her she positioned her head back the way it was.

"You seem pretty young for a guild-member, you're like twelve right?"

"Eleven," I corrected her; she seemed amused by my answer.

"Ha! I'm two years older, and yet I do the fun stuff like treasure hunting." ...Yeah right, a 'treasure hunter'.

"Then what did you want with Scrafty?" I asked her, "I bet you're just a typical thief."

"Wrong. I'm spying on him and his crew, I'm waiting for the day they steal or smuggle something beyond value, so I can snatch it for myself... That aside, you're right I am a thief."

"You admitted that to a guild-member?" Her expressions and tone made it really hard for me to tell if she even told the truth.

"Of course, I did. Unlike most criminals, I like being honest. It helps me into tricking thieves into thinking I'll join or assist them, only to turn them to the police and nab the treasure for myself." ' _That's not how honesty works.'_

"I could turn you in right now-"

"You won't. If you did, you wouldn't be able to find Scrafty for a long while; maybe never, and trust me on that one. Secondly, I'm a really good actor; do you honestly think this is the first time I'd have dealt with this kind of stuff. I'll go scot-free, while you get lectured at for prosecuting an 'innocent' little lady. It's a double win for me." She was really starting to annoy me... but like she said, I needed her in order to find the Hoodlum Gang.

"Wait, did you say you could help me find Scrafty?" I inquired. A menacing look spread across face.

"Only on two conditions."

"What are the conditions?"

"You, and only you, can come with me." I felt conflicted with that condition, I don't even know if she's trustworthy. "And! ...I get the goods Scrafty smuggles, you can get what's better: credit and glory." She raised out her paw "Do we have a deal?"

With a bit of reluctance, I shook her paw. "Deal."

"Grand. Now what I know for sure, at least since you and your friends from the guild found him. Scrafty and the Hoodlum Gang won't come anywhere near Serenity River, or Treasure Town for that matter. That includes: Drenched Bluff, Tiny Meadow, Lush Prairie, and Waterfall Cave... In fact." Something about the way her voice trailed off; it made me think she had something else on her mind.

"What?"

"A third condition be that you take me to Waterfall Cave." This girl was really high in demands, I got more and more ticked off. Every time she spoke. To top it off Waterfall Cave is for an independent expedition, if she goes, it won't count... Unless...

"You can come." I told her, "But you have to follow my partner and I, not directly, don't be seen by him, and you'll be fine."

She looked down at the floor. It was funny to give her the same feeling of conflict I got from her. "Okay, I can work with that. What poké is he?"

"A mudkip. Male, walks on his hind legs, wear clothes, has an odd personality and appearance overall."

"Got it." Before she departed from the trees she said: "I'll keep you posted on Scrafty's whereabouts, ta-ta."

* * *

Trubbish stood on his toes in anticipation (though Grimer has none, you could easily tell he would have done the same), desperately wondering and hoping that their ticket won.

"Wait... don't tell me. It's a big win, isn't it?" Wynaut asked with as much ecstasy as the duo who participated in the lotto.

"That's right!" The wall that was spared between the two booths was demolished, a ludicolo and five bellossoms emerged from the destruction. The bellossoms circled themselves around the ludicolo. The Botanical Melody prepped their instruments, as smiles were shown on them (excluding the tangrowth, whose mouth was hidden by the blue vines that covered his body).

"Oh yeeeaah!" The ludicolo exclaimed. Music was played by the bands, as the spotlight focused on the dancers. Spinda, Wynaut and Wobbufett, danced to the music, while still attending their booths. As the music ended, a blinding light filled the room. The ludicolo and bellossoms were gone, the wall was back the way it was, like nothing happened to it.

Confetti bursted from the recycling shop's counters, as Wobbufett blew on a party popper, while Wynaut clapped his hands. "That's wonderful! Is it not? Here's the top prize." Wynaut handed Trubbish the HM Waterfall.

"What did I miss?" Shinx asked, unaware of what happened.

"Trubbish and I won the p'y'ize! There was a party and eve'ything." Grimer announced, as he held the disc for everyone to see. "Neither of us can learn waterfall. So we'll give it out for eve'yone to have."

"Raise hands. Who's capable of knowing waterfall?" Trubbish awaited for everyone's response, though only the octillery and I raised our arm/paw/tentacle. "Then line up." We did as he said, he did the octillery first as he was in front. Once he was done it was my turn. "Now you," As I held the HM the impulses... You get the idea, I learned waterfall.

"Shall we get going?" Shinx suggested.

* * *

"According to our map we should be here by now." Shinx informed. Throughout the journey, he kept turning his back, I felt quite suspicious. Was he making sure nobody was following us? "Welp... We're here."

As we were standing on rocky terrain. Below it was a stream of running water. The waterfall itself faced the platform, the size of it was comparable to that of an eight story building.

"This does look like the right place... But how do we get through?" Shinx was left scratching the fur on his head. "...Hold on." His eyes glowed a cyan colour, most likely some kind of X-ray vision, as the shinx line are notable for that trait. "I can see a cavern through it. This is definitely the right place... I think it's best to do your thing."

"Okay... according to the description of the move, to use waterfall to its fullest it's best to be near a body of water." I looked down from the craggy terrain, from how deep the fall was between here and the water, it wasn't worth it, not that I'll likely need it, as the waterfall itself was sure to provide me with enough water.

I distanced myself from the roaring tide and the ruin we stood on, giving me enough speed for me to reach the waterfall. "Wish me luck." Water surrounded my arms, as I ran towards the roaring tides, I leaped with my arms in front. The very moment they made contact with the aquatic wall, I pushed my body towards it, attempting to pierce a hole in it; my hands felt as if they fused with the waterfall, I used this to my advantage by doing my head next, then my entire body. I plunged through the wall, like a speeding dart, the hole still remained though it began to slowly close, I used both of my arms to force it back open, despite the waterfall out-classing me greatly.

"Get in, quickly!" The waterfall's roars shrouded my exclamation. Fortunately Shinx took note of the opening, as he sprinted at full speed, pouncing of the ruin's edge, and tackling me out the way of the pierced gap of the strong tides. The two sides began closing in, slowly.

"Come on, let's get moving." Shinx tapped the back of my shoulder, outpacing me and hastily travelling the dark cavern. Speaking of the cavern, the walls were mostly stacked boulders, which were an odd, distinctive colour between blue and black, with the blue showing more than its counterpart. Tiny pools bordered between the boulders and the cavern's path, hanging from the ceiling, were what shaped like stalacmites only more in a rocky form, than anything else.

"Slow down!" I commanded. "We don't know what's inside this cave. If we touch or disturb anything in here that's sensitive to sound or movement, we'll put ourselves at risk."

"Oh... yeah... You're right." I became weary of his behaviour. I tended to look back to see what he may have seen, but there was nothing there. As we ventured further into the cavern, the interior became much different. The cave's flooring had a brownish-orange colour to it, the walls were sea foam blue. The layout was identical to a labyrinth, with multiple pathways; some with drips of water falling down the ceiling.

"Careful with some of these paths." Shinx forewarned. "I've been told about traps that function like this."

"How?" I asked, "From what I can tell it's just a pathway. Sure there's a possibility the walls closing in on you, or something flooding the area. But still. How?"

"You see those drips of water." Shinx said as he pointed to the sea-foam ceiling. "If you step in front or below them, it's likely a waterfall will crash in on you. Unless if you react in time or have the right move... there's not much you can do." He examined the cave's path, head cocked and reluctant to use flash (likely due to not alerting any threats). "That's not all. Like you said, the trap can also trigger rising water to flood this entire path, even if you were to get through the waterfall, there's a chance you could drown from the rising water, unless of course you can breathe in said water."Already this labyrinthine cave has took me by surprise. There were only two paths you could go in order to advance, both of which had dripping water above them.

"I could swim through," I suggested, "Though there's the risk of me leaving you behind, and who knows where this might lead. It could potentially leave me in another trap."

"I could use shockwave to try and disable the trap. Some traps rely on electrical circuits, but only few of them do, I doubt this one does." There were very few options we had in this situation.

"Anyway we can avoid these traps or-"

"They're motion-sensored, don't even try."

"I don't like this one bit," I admitted, "...But, I'm willing to take the risk."

"What?"

"I'm going to trigger the trap, see if I can make my way through it. You still have your communic-orb, don't you?"

"Never leave without it," Shinx said with his smile leaning to the right.

"Great... I'll notify you once I get through. If you encounter any problems, like the water rising all over the dungeon, or unable to escape, be sure to holler." Shinx nodded. We decided to not waste anymore time. I stepped in front of the dripping drops of water, as I did that, an entire waterfall came crashing down. Now's my cue. I pushed through the crashing wall, the narrow pathway was already filling up with water.

Since all sound, either of us could make was blocked out by the waterfall, I held out my communic-orb shaking and rubbing it to see if I could get it to work. "Shinx, I'm through. Did anything go wrong, while I triggered that trap?"

 ** _"...Yes, the water's rising. It's filling the entire dungeon!"_** Crud... I'd fear that would happen. Luckily, the path from here to the other side didn't seem too far ahead. Annoyingly though, it was blocked off by another waterfall, so there wasn't anyway of telling if that also wasn't about to flood. I did have a plan, however.

"Shinx. Use your X-ray vision to see through the waterfall."

 ** _"Doing it right now... I can only see your skeleton! Get out the way!"_** I followed his orders and crouched down, at this point the water was already at my feet. **_"I can see a separate room of the cave! Get me through this waterfall!"_**

I raised my body back up. I punched the descending tide, piercing my fist right through it. Shinx's paw touched mine, I instantly yanked it as hard as I could, bringing him to the path I stood on.

"Go now!" I let Shinx run in front of me, as he was the faster 'mon (a slang for pokémon that I picked up on), in addition to the fact he couldn't breathe underwater. I could. The water began reaching up to my waist, it squelched in my shoes from how wet my socks and the sole were inside. If I don't hurry up, he'll drown!

"Hurry!" Shinx yelled, as we neared the second waterfall. He was keeping his head up as high as he could. Considering the fact I actually stand on my hind legs (which makes me look taller), the water already began reaching his nose! The weight of my legs increased as the water rose higher and higher, slowly me down even more. _'almost there'..._ Made it.

The water was level to my neck, all Shinx could do was paddle with the flow. I wasted no time in punching through the waterfall, as I grabbed hold of shinx's neck-fur. I pulled ourselves out of the trap room.

Shinx lying on the cave's flooring, refusing to get back on his four feet. "...We made it... Yay."

"You seem a bit melodramatic," I commented with a chuckle.

"So much for you. I nearly drowned, you had nothing to worry about... Well aside from saving my sorry butt."

"Wait... The waterfall. Shouldn't it be filling up this room too." I looked below my feet as a shallow puddle slowly widened.

"Don't rest yet there's plenty more to come," a voice told us. Looking up I realised it was a male wooper. "Well... What better way to make it more fun than call in some party members? PALLL-PIIII-TOADS!" Blue sound waves burst out of his mouth, growing bigger in diametre the further they went. The cries of palpitoads were heard, their vibrating chorus passed on from each section of the cave.

From the three alleyways, this room had, a huge horde palpitoads came hopping in at us, while vibrating the three glands on their heads.

"What do we do now?" Shinx asked, whispering in my canal.

"I'm not sure..." I whispered back. "No good using electric type moves. Not only are all these pokémon ground type, we'll also risk electrocuting ourselves, the more the water comes into contact wi-"

"WE CAN HEAR YOUUUU" The wooper sang. More sounds waves, red, blue and yellow pulsed out the woopers mouth. The more he sang the louder he became (though he's not even close to how ear popping Loudred's voice is). "ROUND WITH ME PALPITOADS! LA, LA LA, LA LA LA LA," Both he and the toads sang incoherently, all while strengthening their singing.

 _"What are they doing?!"_ I barely heard Shinx through the surrounding chorus. He curled up in an attempt to resist the piercing sounds.

"They're using round!" I informed, I couldn't even hear my own voice that well either, it was unbearable. "It's a move that grows stronger the more a pokémon uses it, as well as how many are using it."

"Great... just... gr-" His voice faded away from my hearing, as he did I felt a splash of water land on the back of my knee... My sights began darkening, my body felt weak, all I could do was mutter to myself until all I saw was black.

* * *

Throbbing and ringing wrapped around my head as I regained conscious. Although I could've been out for a couple of minutes, it only just felt like I woke up the second I fainted. "Auggh..." I examined my surroundings, wondering why the palpitoads and the wooper left us be; or for that matter why they didn't even take our stuff. "Shinx?" My voice and body still felt weak from the dizziness I was inflicted with. I saw him lying on the floor breathing heavily, I nudged him on the back to see if he woke up... No response.

It took me a while to realise that this section of the cave wasn't the same we were in before. It was much bigger and wider, almost the size of an assembly hall. Did somebody move us here? If so, how and who?

"Erhhh," A weak, disorientated groan came from Shinx. I noticed he began waking up. As he regained his sights he looked around the place as I did. He started to mumble something unintelligible, looking around as he expected someone to jump out of nowhere and attack him. I can't blame him, these explorations are just getting unpredictable.

"We should go this way." Shinx suggested pointing south. "The X-ray specs show that all the other directions are barraged with pokémon; we should go this way."

"Hold on a minute." I took a quick glance at the lens, and noticed a red spot near where we were standing. "Someone is here with us. But where are they?" It seemed the pokémon (whoever it was) caught on from what I said, they went as far as he or she could from our proximity. "That's not good. They're warning the rest, let's go."

* * *

As we further explored the the cave, Shinx and I glanced at the X-ray specs, trying to pick up from when we last fainted. "Huh, that's odd..." I vaguely said to myself. "According to the X-ray specs we were taken to a different section of the cave entirely. As a matter of fact, we're on the same floor."

"So?" Shinx stated unfazed.

"We must have been dragged here... The wooper and palpitoads sure as heck wouldn't have helped us, unless somebody fought them off and somehow managed to beat every single one of them..."

"There are other ways to overcome a horde of pokémon." Shinx added. "For example a petrify orb will prevent anyone and everyone that antagonises from moving, so much so that the only way to recover from it without the use of berries is for someone else to touch you."

"I know what that orb does, I used one myself."

I felt very claustrophobic as we walked through a narrow path. I felt like the whole cavern will flood at any second, or worse the walls will close in on us. We might even fall pray to more pokémon.

"I've got a question." I told Shinx, who was intent on listening "It's obvious that more than one pokémon are seen at the same place together, as well as the fact that they go by the name of their species as seen with the two kecleons. How is everyone capable of not getting confused with one another?"

"I'd thought you'd say that. I mean, it's no wonder why you don't put emphasis on the hidden phonemes."

"Excuse me?" I asked, confused.

"Our names kind of have a second language in them. You probably wouldn't have noticed since you're well... part human. Young children struggle with this too, but that's only because they haven't fully developed their speech, but they learn rather quickly.

The area started to fell, cooler and drafty. I attempted to see through the dim boundary to detect anything lurking or hiding inside it, though I couldn't make out anything noteworthy.

"It's getting pretty dark. I suggest you use flash."

"Is it me, or do you take the whole flash thing for granted."

"Well it's useful. I hate walking around in the dark. You can barely-

"Below you!" Shinx exclaimed all of a sudden. The moment I made myself aware of the hazard Shinx acknowledged, my feet didn't step on any sort of terrain. I was on the verge of falling down an abyss! The moment I fell, Shinx caught the rear collar of my jumper, holding me back, but not enough to fully stop my fall. My arms slipped through the sleeves. Luckily I reacted in time for me to grip on the jumper, which in the process made a the sound of tearing thread.

"Christ!" I shouted, as I almost fell to my demise.

My remark made Shinx curve his left eye"...Huh?" Is all I could hear, since his teeth dug into the jumper we both clung to (obviously unaware of who I spoke of).

"Don't question what I said and pull me up!" Which Shinx did as he pulled me up. Which from that point I backed away from the edge as soon as possible.

My reaction left Shinx in tears of laughter. "Ha! You were scared, I saw on your face..." He laughed so hard to the point he gasped for air. "Can't imagine how the Guild will react once they find out you're afraid of heights."

"With what proof?" I replied "I almost fell to my death. Of course I'm going to scream bloody murder."

"No... You're different. Admit it, you're afraid of heights, aren't you?" Shinx's grin widened to an almost cartoonish look, which annoyed me ever so slightly.

I sighed "Fine then, I'm acrophobic, Big deal. I may as well have told you sooner, as I won't be climbing any cliffs or rockwalls anytime soon." I slowly crept back to the edge on all fours, until I eventually stood on my hind legs.

"Don't fall." Shinx said tauntingly.

"Shut up." I scorned, asserting a tone that DOESN'T sound like a whiny kid.

"Hmm..." Shinx said as he looked down the abyss I almost fell in. "My X-ray vision can detect barboach swimming in a body of water. If you use waterfall you make it as a platform, just be careful of y'know the barboaches."

"That shouldn't be too much of a problem." I said. "Unlike the wooper and palpitoads, barboaches don't have an ability that gives them a water immunity, so I could easily push them back if necessary." I tightened my paws and edged myself closer to the drop. "Okay... here we go, this may hurt, it may not."

"Why would you say that?" Shinx wondered.

"If you fall at a certain distance and force towards a pool of water, It'd be no different to landing on a concrete road." I explained.

"Ouch,"

"How far is the water from here?" I asked Shinx.

"Shouldn't have been too far... Hopefully not enough to equal that to landing on concrete."

With that in mind, it made me feel slightly more assured, _slightly_...

"You going to jump?" Shinx asked. He's right, I'm being a pansy.

"...Of course. Watch me." To which I jumped of the edge.

My surroundings darkened, due to no light sources around, I felt the air wave past me until I made impact on the water splashing it in the progress. An unseen force kept tackling me, and even in some cases, bringing me down deeper, this must be work of the barboaches. But like I said to Shinx: They're not a threat. I chuckled slightly as my eyes started to glow blue, the barboaches noticed, I sighted them thanks to the faint glowing, though they're are no longer my concern. My surroundings became crystal clear, I could even hear the rumbling of the rising water.

"Too hoo." I jokingly told them, as a way of saying goodbye. The current of the water pushed me up, alongside the barboaches, but unlike them I was in control. I found their state of panic, let's say... amusing. The more i ascended from the rising tide the brighter my vision became. I saw the two sides of the abyss; the one Shinx was on, the other being the one we want to be on. I forced my body through the towering water bursting out of it with ease and made it to the other side.

"D-N'T fog-t a-o-t M-!" The streaming tower of water made it difficult for Shinx. I grabbed hold of the it and pushed it down, making us both visible.

"How good is your parkour?" I asked Shinx

"Huh?"

"Can you get over here by yourself?" I inquired, simplifying my previous sentence.

"Oh? Yeah I'll be fine. I'll just climb on the walls with my claws."

"That's good to know." I said. "Without further ado I'm going to push this waterfall back in... the water." I prepped myself two hands into a dual hammer formation. Ready to put force on the spiralling tower, as I slammed down on it, the water crashed down in the abyss, which was followed by a roaring, explosion of a splash. I used the reaction of the waterfall to bounce myself back to the other side. With that out the way, Shinx clung on to the cave walls, fitting his claws into dented holes and holding onto edged parts, he then leaped to the cliff side I was on.

"Made it!" He exclaimed "Huh,"

"What?"

"According to the X-ray specs, it's only through here 'till we reach the end of the cave. Let's hope it isn't a dead end." Shinx rushed ahead of me, again... Kind of annoying when you can't keep up with the pace of that of an electric lynx... Oh well.

* * *

Okay, just a little further, my X-ray specs are telling me there's two alternate paths, one west the other east. I just hope John's able to catch after me, and I sure as heck hope Purrloin hasn't been noticed by him, the fact I've turned my back multiple times, and she's likely the one who got us away from those water pokémon. A random bystander wouldn't just help them without being acknowledged, and I know for a fact it wasn't a wild pokémon that helped us, they'd never help anyone.

There I was at the end of the cave marvelling at what I saw; a giant pink gem, rooted to the ground by the triangular point and surrounding minerals.

"It's beautiful." I turned my head to see Purrloin, hypnotised by the reflective gleam that was beheld. "It's a trap, though. You touch it, it's likely a giant wave will come after you. I've experienced it. Countless times as a matter of fact." She said this grudgingly, it made me wonder how she got out with scenarios like the ones she's currently describing.

"Are you suggesting we take it?" I inquired to her, she gave me the 'obviously' look.

"Question is. How do we take it? A frail one like you will never be able carry." Did she call me- "Yes I said it, you're frail. Thankfully you're not dumb, it's clear why you do stuff like this. Everyone I've been with always made hasty decisions, you're not one of them... Still. I'm a bit irritated that I had to waste a petrify-orb just to get you and your friend out of that monster house."

"A what?" I asked Purrloin, clueless

"A monster house is when a horde of pokémon ambush you all at once in a room or vicinity. It's a common _and_ effective tactic." She explained. "I'm guessing this means I'm getting more of my money's worth." She stated expecting more out of me. What more could I possibly give her? "No? Of course not."

"Well that's becu-"

"Quiet." She scorned.

"Hey-"

"I mean, it shut it." she leaned her ear slightly. Us cat pokémon have much better hearing compared to others, I can hear what she's hearing. It's the sound of John's boots. "Alright, back in hiding position. See ya'."

I saw John running at a slow pace, likely due to him not wanting to waste stamina. As he caught up with me, he looked displeased, but not exactly angry or annoyed.

"Next time, slow down for me mate." He said jokingly, yet with advice "It's bad enough trying to outrun a shinx as a mudkip."

"Maybe, we should explore the two paths. It's likely a dead end, but if I have the right orb I could use it to warp you back here." As I said that, a shining beige orb tapped the side of my leg, must have been bowled by Purrloin.

"What orb would that be?" John asked me.

"A rocall orb." I replied. "I had one with me at the bottom of my bag."

"Good to know. How does it work?"

"It's actually quite simple. Anyone you've met as of holding this orb, you can use it to summon them, where you are.."

"Alright, since you're more familiar with the orbs than I am, I shall see what's at the end of lane. Ta-ta" He said turning to the left path.

Shortly after Purrloin leaped out of the shadows. It's amazing she hasn't been caught, since her eyes reflect in the dark. "I thought he'd never leave. He's the odd ball, isn't he? Everyone's talking about him?"

"Since when?" I asked

"When he started standing out amongst the crowd. Wearing clothing, walking on two legs, he's part of the Guild." She informed me. "They talk about you, but it's mostly: 'Oh Shinx is such a little sweetheart.' Or: 'It's nice seeing Shinx befriend the newest guild member and making a team.' Which brings us to: 'That mudkip wearing clothes is an odd one. What was his name again? Jo-on?' Seriously, though. What's his name?"

"John," I answered.

"And that's all I need to know" She said. "... Though I must say, I'd take him as an idiot. Wearing clothes just to stand out, he doesn't even say names right... Or at least not with the hidden language. In fact, I've heard rumours that he's a human; a bidoof was talking non-stop about it." Darn it! Why did Bidoof release his blabber mouth?! Yes to him it's harmless, but if the town's poké believe his story, they might get the wrong impression of him.

My communic-orb started glowing, **_"I've reached the end, and just as I thought. It's a dead end."_** Purrloin started to mute her voice, knowing she can't be heard over me talking to John. **_"Wait, hold on. I've noticed there's a hole on the ceiling, it kind of looks like a spire. With that in mind, you'd be able to escape without drowning... I hope."_**

"Okay, just get back. We'll- I'll make sure nobody touches the crystal."

 ** _"Heading back. Over."_** He said, ending the call.

"Pretty..." A trio of psyducks stared at the gem with distant expressions. They were very close.

"Don't touch it!" I considered using shock-wave, but I felt that violence wasn't the best answer. I was wrong. Using their combined psychic powers they threw me at the west path, Purrloin leaped out to help, using her claws to slash one of them. It attempted to use confusion on her, but she's a dark type. No effect, this easily gave her an opportunity for attack, which she did. I was unable to move due to being incapacitated by the force of me being slammed at the walls.

"Am I going to have to save you _all_ the time?" Purrloin extended her paw to pull me up. At this point I realised one of the psyducks hugged the gem, like a giant stuffed doll, the other two were knocked out. "Hurry!" She exclaimed continuously pulling me, like a sack of bricks. The gem was a trap, just like we thought. The tide came at us, alarmingly fast. We could get out if we're quick enough.

My feet levitated off the ground, the remaining psyduck is using confusion. It's weak by itself, I easily thought back by using shockwave. The zig-zag patterned beam struck the psyduck stunning it, and quite possibly knocking it out.

"We're almost there! Hurry!" It was no use, she was further than I was. I'm not getting out of this by myself, the tide's going to consume us. Turns out... I'm the one saving Purrloin.

"Please forgive me." I told her, she didn't look back, wouldn't have thought she would. I bent my hind legs and pounced, tackling Purrloin and knocking her away from the path holding the tide. She looked at me confused. Though she could only look for a brief time. The waves took me away.


	8. A Stench of Retaliation Part I

**Chapter 8: A Stench of Retaliation Part I**

The sound of roaring waves echoed through the cavern I was in! This was bad!

"Shinx! Use the rocall orb!" The waves unveiled themselves from the shadows, just like out of the movies. No response from Shinx; regardless of the possible scenarios he's dealing with, it's not good. I need to get out of here. I doubt my strength will be able to push the tide away, even with waterfall. The only way out was the spire shaped ceiling, I'm not at all a good climber but I had to try. Without any fingers (only paws) I had to use my arms to wedge myself up and occasionally use my paws to get _some_ grip on the ragged walls. The flow of water halted, I considered diving in it and swim my way out, but not until the cavern started shaking. The flowing water was pulsing, I then realised it was going to spring up like an eruption. My only choice at this point (as stupid as it seemed) was to fight the water's raw power.

I cannon-balled into the raging waters, inside I could already feel it overpowering me. What a mistake that was. But then at that moment I realised somebody must've touched the massive gemstone, Shinx could be caught in this trap as well! As best as I could I swam feebly as I was being held in one place. And then that's when I saw him (alongside three psyducks); trapped by the merciless grasp of the streams. More grumbling and shaking occurred, I tried to swim to Shinx's unconscious body and fight the aggressive pool. It was near hopeless, but there was no use in giving up. Not when a friend's life is on the line! I felt the current's pressure rise up, my stomach clenched in pain; we were reaching the top! Soon the wave busted out the spire ceiling, erupting like a volcano; I didn't know such a thing was possible!

My screams were drowned out by the bellowing of the eruption. However fate was kind enough to make me faint before witnessing my own fearful demise...

* * *

...Or not. Before waking up I felt warmth in a tub sized pool. Was I in a bath of some sort? Someone was poking me. It felt like a furry paw with sharp tips. I slapped it away thinking it was Shinx, upon opening my eyes it was not him. It was a bear cub with a crescent-like marking on its forehead; a teddiursa. He cocked his head while twitching his semi-circular ears.

"Haven't seen a mudkip before?" I asked jokingly, with a short chuckle. "Surprisingly, you aren't the first."

"No I haven't sir. Are you okay?" He asked. "You fell from, well... the sky. And now you're in the hot springs." This did not make sense in the slightest. I fell from a great height, (that should've killed me) mostly unscathed. Even Shinx was fine. He was lounging in the hot spring. I didn't see any of the psyducks though.

"We must be dead-"

"We're not dead." Shinx responded. "I remember this place, I swam here as a cub once."

"You definitely survived." The Teddiursa confirmed. "Some psyducks used confusion to slowly lower the water you were all trapped in, safely to the ground."

As I surveyed the area I noticed a vigoroth, a mankey, a primeape and an ursaring. all looking at me with displeasure. Did I do something wrong? And as I felt the sogginess of my clothes I began to realise that I tainted the spring with my muddy boots. I swam out, not saying anything to respond to this awkward situation.

"I think we should get back to the guild. It's getting late, and I don't have a clue where we are." I suggested. Shinx opened up his bag searching for his map, though something didn't seem right. "You lost something?" I asked him.

"I can't find my relic fragment." Shinx began to worry.

"Did anybody steal it when we were unconscious?" I asked, not thinking it would just make Shinx more paranoid.

"I doubt it. If they did they would've stolen my entire bag... wait." His voice slowed down and muttered a bunch of unintelligible jibberish that I couldn't understand. "No-no, I remember now I left it at the guild, honestly." He seemed a bit unsure, but oh well. The fragment _did_ seem important to Shinx though, I wonder why? Sure, he said it reminds him of something peaceful. But maybe he thinks it has a purpose because of its ancient look.

"So you're the youngster everyone was talking about." A voice belonging to somebody elderly said.

"Huh?" on the rocky exterior of the hot spring I saw a tortoise pokémon with steam puffing out its shell. He's the elder torkoal Chatot spoke of. "You mean me?"

"Indeed. Ever since Shinx and you apprehended Drowzee, everyone's been calling you two the 'exploration prodigies'; just like your guild master: Wigglytuff." Residents of Treasure Town have called Shinx and I that? Granted, arresting a criminal at a young age is impressive (especially where I come from), albeit dangerous. But are we really being compared to Wigglytuff?

Shinx began whispering in my canal "Wasn't there something you wanted to tell Torkoal?" Hinting at the visions I've had.

"Hey Torkoal. Do you mind if I have word with you about something?"

"What about youngster?" Torkoal asked.

I didn't bother too much with whispering, everyone, more or less lost their cognitive thought thanks to the hot springs. "I've been getting strange visions about events that have happened. I mean, I wouldn't of thought much about it if I was a psychic type."

"Are you... involved in these events?" Torkoal inquired.

"I've had two so far. One of them foreseeing Drowsee's intentions; that one I was in. And then-" I stopped myself halfway through my sentence. I questioned if I should tell Torkoal about the incident in Treeshroud Forest, but then I made my decision. "I saw someone steal a time gear. And no I didn't see their identity."

"Hmm... Interesting. Perhaps this is all linked." Torkoal suggested. "Have you ever heard how dreams are trying to tell your subconscious something?"

"To an extent, yes, I do believe that."

"Maybe these visions were given to you as some sort of destiny." The elder hypothesised

"So you're assuming I'm involved with a special prophecy?" I asked sarcastically (unaware of the fact I may have come off as a bit snarky). "With the whole prodigy, special powers and great destiny stuff; I may as well be the cliché 'chosen one'." But then again it didn't seem too far-fetched. I _did_ wash up on a beach in an entirely different universe.

"Not too fond of your tone. But indeed you _could_ be some kind of 'chosen one'." Torkoal chuckled "So how _did_ you get here?" He asked.

"Well... I discovered the Waterfall Cave, and at the very end of the dungeon, Shinx and I found this massive gem. I saw it as a trap so I told Shinx not to touch it-"

"I didn't touch it." The electric lynx interrupted "Some psyducks did. Me an- I tried to stop them touching it but they ganged up on me. You probably know the rest."

"Anyway..." I said picking up where I left off. "The trap released a massive wave, sprung out the cave, and here we are."

"Whaaat?!" Torkoal bellowed. "...Shinx your map. Do you have it?"

"Yes, I do."

"Unfold it." Torkoal demanded. Shinx handed the map over to the elder tortoise. "Hmm..." He began to analyse it. "I see you've already marked where Waterfall cave is." Shinx nodded and responded with 'Uh-huh'. "You see where the steaming pool surrounded by rocks is? You're there." The Hot Spring's location was fairly distanced, at South-East from the Waterfall Cave. "With the trip you've been through, I suggest you let the Hot Spring wash away your fatigue."

"I think I've overstayed my welcome." I said indirectly addressing the mud I've let loose. "Besides it's getting dark. And I don't want the guild waiting on us, nor getting a twenty-four hour lecture from Chatot..." I motioned to Shinx "Don't tell him I said that."

"You think he'll lecture you?" Shinx pondered.

"Well, from what the Guild tells me, the only other pokémon you'd rather not anger is Wigglytuff." I explained.

"Okay, they have a point. And I'm fully refreshed now." Shinx added. "See ya' Torkoal!"

"I hope to see you two again. Sorry I couldn't be help with, er- What was your name again?" He asked me.

"John. And it's fine; maybe I'll figure it out for myself."

"Maybe..." He replied.

* * *

Torches blew at the entrance of the guild; we're late. As we climbed up the stairway I noticed Magnezone and his fellow Magnemites holding three haunters captive in an electric cage.

"Who're the outlaws?" I asked them.

One of the magnemites replied. "ZTTT Sunflora apprehended all three of them with the help of Loudred ZTTT." That's all the magnemite said before moving down the stairs, out of sight.

I stamped on the metal grate, waiting for the door to open.

"Eww!" Diglett's voice echoed. "You got mud on my face!" I should probably check my boots are clean next time.

"You're a diglett, I thought you liked mud!" I shouted from below. "And it's me John! Can I come in!?"

"That's a stereotype and offensive! ...But yes come in!" The wooden barricade rose. I lazily walked in and slung off my shoes.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Loudred was behind the door, it was obvious he was waiting on us.

"Hello would've been nice." I retorted. "I'm guessing nobody ate without us."

"Nah they didn't..." Loudred responded turning all quiet. "Or at least I don't think they have. They said I can't have dinner because I didn't attend sentry duty."

"Oh..." Shinx said. "But you still helped Sunflora. Arrest those haunters."

"EXACTLY!" Loudred's sudden voice change made it hurt that little bit more. "I TOLD CHATOT THAT, BUT NOOO DUTIES ARE DUTIES! EVEN THOUGH WITHOUT ME SUNFLORA WOULD'VE BEEN BURNT TO A CRISP IN THAT STUPID CAVE! I BET SHE DIDN'T EVEN COME TO MY DEFENCE!"

"I'm pretty sure they can hear you." I added.

"I COULD CARE LESS IF THEY HEARD ME! THIS IS DUMB!" I slowly backed away and climbed down the ladder. "WHERE ARE YA' GOING?!"

"I have places to be." In all seriousness, what could I do anyway?

"WHAT?! SO YOU DON'T CARE THAT I'M BEING PUNISHED FOR SAVING A LIFE?!

"SHINX YA' HAVE TO BACK ME UP, PAL! PLEASE!?"

"I-I'm sorry but I... also have places to be." Shinx must've either felt scared or guilty to turn down Loudred.

"THAT'S IT! GO TO THE MESS ROOM WHILE YOUR GOOD OL' PAL LOUDRED STARVES!"

* * *

We sat down at the Mess Hall, hoping nobody would bring up what happened upstairs.

"Correct me if I wrong." Chatot said. "But did I hear Loudred whine about not having dinner? The punishment was to harvest perfect apples for an entire week, and even then, it was reduced to a day."

"Meh-heh-heh. You could say I _misinformed_ him." Croagunk. said "I mean, I thought it'd be funny. Did anyone else think that?"

"Yes." Dugtrio and Diglett said, simultaneously... "...No." Though they piped down when they realised everyone else was silent.

"Don't worry I'll get him." Sunflora gleefully chimed. Arresting those three haunters must've raised her confidence. She's skipping and prancing all over the place, and is now wearing an orange scarf with a sun-shaped emblem on it.

Wigglytuff began to speak, due to being on opposite sides of the table, he had to speak moderately louder. "So, Shinx and John... I gave you two your assignments for Waterfall Cave. How'd you do?"

"Not great..." Shinx admitted. "We managed to find the cave with no trouble. But the only thing interesting thing we found was a massive gem."

"A massive gem huh? What did you do with it?" Wigglytuff suddenly became interested.

"We didn't touch it." Shinx answered. "John had a hunch that the gem was a trap. He was right, some psyducks touched it and we were washed away and ended up in the Hot Springs. I'm sorry to disappoint you."

"Disappoint me?" Wigglytuff baffled. "What you found was amazing!"

"He's right." Chatot joined. "You've managed to discover something nobody else had. Thanks to your contributions we actually know the location of Waterfall Cave. Are you aware of how easier it will be to rescue lost pokémon?"

"Wait lost pokémon?" Shinx inquired.

"Well... it's up to speculation. But there's a lot of evidence to prove it." Knowing how easily cornered we were by those palpitoads we could've ended up like them. I was about to question them but...

"I thought you said this mission wasn't too dangerous." ...Shinx beat me to it.

"Oh... Did I say that?" Wigglytuff asked himself out loud in an ignorantly.

"Shinx." Chatot spoke. "Anywhere outside of Treasure Town has some level of danger. I thought if I lied to you, it may boost your confidence. I apologise." Did Chatot see us as naive? I kind of get where he's going with it, but still, I'm a tad insulted.

I debated whether or not to respond to that. Regardless I would've been interrupted by Loudred, who I could hear through the ceiling.

* * *

"WHAT? YOU'RE SAYING CROAGUNK LIED TO ME JUST FOR A LAUGH?! AND YOU'RE SAYING I ONLY NEEDED TO GET PERFECT APPLES FOR TODAY!?"

"Uh-huh." _The nerve Croagunk, has I swear, as soon as it's just me and him around; I swear on my life I'll... I'll-_

"And I forgot to say thank-you, for saving- helping me arrest those haunters."

"DON'T MENTION IT!"

"Now let's go downstairs I think everyone has had enough of you screaming."

"WHY YOU-" _Those pok_ émon _maybe they should learn to tolerate my voice! Or maybe they should know how difficult it is to control my voice!_ "FINE! Let's eat."

* * *

Sunflora and Loudred finally sat down their seats; now we could move on to eating dinner, at last.

"Hey, hey! Trubbish and Grimer. Do you planning on staying here?" Corphish asked them.

"Not anytime soon, pal." Trubbish replied. "This guild stuff is not for us... Although the expedition we have sounds fun. Grimey ol' bud. Are you joinin' in with us?"

Grimer nodded. "It'll be fun, I can tell."

"I've been thinking..." Trubbish pondered. "Now that Shinx and John found a way in Waterfall Cave. We could go explore it now. Well, so long as you guys don't mind doing an extra rescue mission." He joked.

At the end corner of the table, Chatot was whispering something to Wigglytuff. The pudgy guild master made what looked like an 'Oh yeah...' face.

Wigglytuff leaned forward on his seat "John. You said you had a feeling the giant gem was a trap, right? Was there a way you _knew_ that?" The guild master was clearly hinting at my visions.

"Like Shinx said: just a hunch." Wigglytuff readjusted his position in disappointment. "Honestly you just got to know the movie tropes-" My vision distorted itself, whitening. I knew what was coming, and I certainly was in the wrong place for it to happen.

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed. "John's pupils, they're dilating."

"Is he alright?!" Bidoof yelled.

The voices started faded out. Tiny spots of colour floated around needlessly and began to form. I was at the end of Cave again, except I wasn't where I originally was. I saw another black figure, this one plump with rabbit ears and stubby legs. the figure used the strength of its back and legs to shove the gem out of the ground… but ultimately failed. The figure was not ready to give in, it stepped back and jumped up and down and seemingly prepared to charge.

The silhouette yelled something I could've swore I heard before "YOOM-TA-" I already knew why the figure stopped mid-sentence: it saw the pursuing tide. The plump silhouette shook its stubby limbs in fear, as it saw the trap close on in. Just like Shinx and I, the figure was washed away too.

Before my vision ended, I was in a white background and saw a still image of the figure. It seemed too familiar: plump body, stubby limbs and rabbit-like ears. Wigglytuff? The silouette was coloured in. Everything from his pink fur, large, green eyes, white stomach, even the pink curl on his head. What's he doing in Waterfall Cave? Did he want to see it for himself? Maybe I'm stretching out a little bit, but maybe this already happened.

" _OI JOHN, SNAP OUT OF IT!"_ The still Wigglytuff faded into nothing, the white background instantaneously switched back to the Mess Hall. I jumped out of my skin when I saw Loudred's face up close "WAKE UP!" He rattled me relentlessly.

I gripped Loudred's arms and attempted to push him away. "I'm up!" I told him. "Next time don't shake me as much. You're already destroying my ear drums, I don't want my brain damaged too." Everyone else (excluding Shinx, Wigglytuff and Chatot) looked like they saw something they couldn't unsee.

"What?" I said innocently. "I-I er, just spaced out."

"Yup, yup, you were just sittin' there." Bidoof responded. "We tried to snap you out of it."

"AND WE THOUGHT YOU WERE HAVING A FIT OR SOMETHING!" Loudred explained

"Then why did you resort to shaking me?" I questioned. "That's not what you do."

"Perhaps you should be checked out." Chatot suggested. "Does your family suffer from a line of seizures or short-term paralysis?"

"I'll get it checked out." I'll have to thank Chatot for covering up my visions.

* * *

I was lying in my bed, pyjamas included. I couldn't sleep, not due to the recent events, but simply because the summer heat still hasn't entirely wore off yet... Good Arceus I hate the heat.

"Are you really going to see a doctor?" Shinx asked, before dozing off in his own bed. "Because y'know you're going have to cover it up somehow."

"Well let's hope the Guild won't get overly concerned about it." I assured.

"They will." Shinx responded. "I caught a cold once and _everyone_ wouldn't get off my back."

"Great... That's exactly what I want. You think I'd have to tell them about it sooner or later?"

"Why ask me?" He inquired.

"I don't know. I think I'll tell them after the planned expedition. By then HOPEFULLY everything can be explained." I did my best to get to sleep, but I just couldn't. Shinx already beat me to it and started snoring. One of the joys of entering temporary, full-body paralysis last!

* * *

"AND THREE: SMILES GO FOR MILES!" Let that be the first morning briefing I managed to join in. Despite being insanely tired. Whatever's coming, my body is very _unready._

"Alright pokémon. Time for another day of exploring!"

"HOORAY!"

"Boys, come over here!" Chatot called. "That 'incident' that occurred at the Mess Hall last night. Did you see anything... _noteworthy_?"

"Not anything that relates with the time gears." I informed. "Instead, I saw Wigglytuff in Waterfall Cave, he touched the gem and got washed away like we did. By any chance did he go there? Or was he planning to see the cave for-"

"Not Emphatically! No, no, no!" Chatot blurted in a sudden urge of shock. "That's inconceivable! If that were so, Wigglytuff certainly wouldn't have assigned you the jobs in the first place... Right?"

"As far as I know at least, my visions might not have boundaries." I added. "I think Wigglytuff should know just in case."

"If you insist, I will inform the Guildmaster about this." He explained, after entering the Guildmaster's Chamber. It wasn't until a short conversation ended he returned.

"What did he say?" Shinx asked.

"I explained everything to the Guildmaster." Chatot responded. "He mulled over it for a while, and then he said: 'Oh memories! Sweet memories!'" Chatot exclaimed (imitating Wigglytuff's cheery attitude). "YOOM-TAH! He said. Then he began to dance around for a bit. And then he said..." Chatot lightly gasped for air from all the talking. "Yes! Yes! When I think hard, maybe I did go there once!"

"So he's already been to Waterfall Cave?" Shinx asked just to be certain.

"Indeed he has." ' _Then what was the point of going there in the first place?!'_ "I apologise. The Guildmaster's demeanour can be... unpredictable to say the least." Chatot concluded. Well that was a disappointment. So much time wasted.

* * *

No work assignments today, that's surprising. I guess I should do something a tad simpler than usual. I could barely bring myself to climb the Guild's ladders, but I got there eventually. I trudged my way to the bulletin board, and found a duo I encountered before. Shinx was just as shocked as I was once he saw who they were: the koffing and zubat.

"Wot're you two doin' 'ere?!" The koffing demanded, he was just as surprised as us.

This is awkward. What do I say to them? 'I'm sorry that I used a point blank gas explosion to knock both of you out'?

"I could say the same thing about you." Shinx said bitterly, which was a tad shocking. My guess is that Shinx hasn't forgiven them for stealing the relic fragment, or he has had some history with them. "We're part of the Guild."

"Whoa-ho-ho! Who kicked you out'uf bed in da' mornin'?!" Koffing remarked.

"Heh-heh-heh. You're aren't still mad about us stealing that chunk of gravel, are ya'?" The zubat retorted.

"But 'd'at don't matter. Wot matt'rs is 'd'at we're an expl'ration te'm... Al'd'ough we don't exactly go by da book." The koffing alluded.

"Past relations aside. Heh-heh. I think we should have a chat."

"Yeah you're 'w'ight." The koffing added. They both circled Shinx and completely ignored me. "I know why ya' enjoy 'dis whole explorin' thing; really, I do. But I think ya' should quit and forget about it. No offence or anything."

"What?" Shinx questioned.

"Heh-heh-heh you're inexperienced. Not to mention you scare easily; you're timid, you're a scaredy-cat." The zubat explained (not knowing the irony in the 'scaredy-cat' remark, because you know... lynx... feline, whatever).

"Says the two that were beaten by a stick on fire!" Shinx back talked. "I didn't even know any moves aside from quick attack and tackle." Shinx began to tense in anger, I never even seen him like this before. "Even if I'm timid, I've joined this exploration guild so I can overcome my fears; especially now that there's a guild exploration."

"Whoa-ho-ho, look at 'da backlash on 'dis wimp. He thinks he's 'da real deal." The koffing retorted. "So, the rumours were true huh? 'Bout 'dis whole exploration?"

"If I may..." I said butting in with an intentionally smug tone. "That isn't even putting Shinx's type advantage in the equation. Electric beats flying, and I hope you're aware what electricity can do to gas." ' _Heh-heh. Got them, add that to the sass metre... as well as Shinx... I guess.'_

"Whoa-ho-ho! Don't get too cocky wimps! Your victory was a fluke if the chief were with us, he'd snap ya' both like a twig!" I remember them talking them about their 'chief' back at Beach Cave. Question is: why wasn't he with them? "As matter of fact… I can smell 'im now!"

I started to smell the gaseous stench, it was putrid, and I'm talking the kind that pollutes the air like exhaust fuel, except it smelt more like damp, worn down clothes combined with methane. I saw the leader climb down the ladder. He had purple coat with white stripes, a tail that curved over its body up to its head, with a face that had the facial features of a cat and the pudginess of a pug; their leader's a skuntank and he was standing right in front of me with an intimidating smirk.

I didn't move, or squirm at all. If I would dare say anything or look at him the wrong way, he would see us as easy targets. "You! Fishface! Get out of the way!"

"I'm an amphibian, actually." I said more quietly than I'd admit. With my lack of experience with these kind of situations I decided to get out of the way. Though I didn't move out the way quickly enough. The skuntank expelled a putrid, gas from the tip of his tail! I saw nothing but smog and the gas burnt my nostrils, eyes and mouth! It was like being exposed to chilli powder, it burnt so much!

My mouth was too hot to scream! Although I couldn't see him, the skuntank laughed menacingly, much like the other two grunts he had a signature laugh. "Chaw-haw-haw!"

I tried my best to crawl out the smog cloud, but my body gave up from fatigue. Luckily for me the cloud faded away, but the smell still lingered.

"Ekk that smell is foul! It smells like rotten cheese!" Sunflora squealed (who was also in the same room, alongside Chimecho, Corphish, Bidoof, Grimer and Trubbish).

"Hey, hey! My eyes are burning!" Corphish griped.

"What smell?" Trubbish asked sniffing and shrugging his arms. "I don't smell anything... Why's everyone looking at us?"

"Yup, yup, it wasn't me either." Bidoof added.

The guild member's eyes turned at Skuntank, realising who the culprit was, the Skull leader approached Shinx. "Move out the way! Or you'll end up like your wimpy pal over there!" He snarled. Shinx moved out way as told. I could barely see him thanks to my hindered sight, but I could tell he was terrified."

"Whoa-ho-ho, noice goin' chief! You really showed 'd'em!" the Koffing rejoiced.

"Heh-heh-heh You're the best, chief!" _'What a bunch of suck-ups.'_

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." the skuntank responded. "Is that really who you had trouble with? Chaw-haw-haw! You got a weirdo in this strange clothing, and a downright scardey-pants." He turned his head to Shinx. "Isn't that right, wimp?"

"Um-uh yeah-"

"Say it." The skuntank demanded.

"I-I'm a wimp- a coward..." Skuntank nodded as to say 'oh yes you are'.

"But Chief, 'd'ey took us by surprise. We told ya' 'd'at! Instead of fightin' us like men, 'd'ey used dirty tricks!" The koffing replied.

"Heh-heh-heh, it won't happen again chief. We promise."

"It better not! I trained you better." The skuntank scorned.

"But anyways, 'd'is little fluffball actually gave us some great info." Koffing informed. "Appa'w'antly the guild 'ave a special expedition. In order to participate we have to prove our worth."

"Hmm... Interesting. Well if they're hiring wimps like these, we got a better chance than any! Chaw-haw-haw!"

"Whoa-ho-ho! Dang right!"

"Heh-heh-heh, nobody says it better than the Chief."

"Chaw-haw-haw! Alright boys, time to plan some plotting." The skuntank climbed the ladder, leading to the top floor. I regained my senses (sort of) and feebly attempted to climb back on my two feet.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Don't think about getting back up." The koffing told me. "Zubat look at 'd'is! He thinks he's some kind of tough guy." I only realised until now how petrified the rest of the guild were. Throughout this whole time they didn't say or do anything, not that I could blame them. "What are you all staring at, this isn't no public performance."

The Zubat had one last talk with Shinx "Heh-heh-heh. Look at him, he says we're weak, but the moment his buddy's down, he's the most pathetic poké the world will ever see. See ya'." As the duo left I got back on my feet and released my last coughs, though I could still feel the hoarse dryness in my mouth; my eyes watered from the burning sensation, naturally I wiped it away in case anyone mistakes them as tears. Shinx on the other looked if he was fighting tears himself. I wasn't sure what to say. I decided not to say something like 'you alright?' because the answers obvious: you're not.

"Hey, do you want to do something at Spinda's café. Let's just forget this happened, and come up with a plan of our own." I suggested. "After all I- WE are not going to lose to a discount Wario and his puny little grunts."

"I-I guess that sounds nice..." Shinx said. "...Am I a chicken?" He asked.

"No. And who cares what they say. Besides I'm tired as all heck and fancy a coco related beverage preferably a frappechino... Do they have those here?"

"I-I don't think so."

"Oh... Do they at least have chocolate?" I asked. Oh Arceus please say yes. It's been four days since I had anything even remotely sweet (that wasn't fruit related); if I don't get my chocolate now it will kill me.

"John, it's a juice bar. Do you really think they'll give you anything with chocolate in it." He began laughing mildly mixed with a little bit of crying), at my rambling.

"Fine, I'll just get a smoothie or something, money's on me." I assured.

"We share the money."

"Exactly..." I joked. "...Also, I might have to take the day off. I'm going have to take a full body bath to get these chemicals and toxins off me. And since there are no showers in your amazing wonderland, I'm going to have to bathe Victorian style."

"What about Skuntank, Zubat and Koffing?" Shinx worried.

"They're not going to plan anything in Treasure Town, too many peop- pokémon will be there. One thing I know about bullies is that they don't want the wrong people to be watching them." I told him.

"That makes sense..." Shinx agreed. "Okay you'll go clean yourself, I'll do something simple today."

* * *

With John heading to Serenity River, I was left by myself. Luckily for me Team Skull wasn't hanging around Spinda's Café. I didn't need any more trouble than I had before. I sat at a table waiting for my drink, when I was approached by Purrloin. I didn't her at first; she was wearing black sunglasses and a hood to hide her identity.

"Upstairs in our last meeting area now." It was obvious she didn't want to stay for long, so I just followed her and left the Café, and got to our meeting place where we were surrounded by trees.

I wasn't exactly happy with her since I suspected she stole my relic fragment, she better still have it with her. She took off her sunglasses and hood and grinned.

"Alright, I get it. You want your rock back don't you?" She remarked condescendingly. "Here you can have it. It doesn't look like is has much worth anyway." She tossed the fragment relic in front of my paws. I quickly snatched it and put it back in my bag for safekeeping.

"You were planning to sell it?!"

"Quiet down, dumb, dumb." She remarked tauntingly. "Yes. But that's not relevant, I came here to give you the good news."

"It's about Scrafty and the Hoodlum Gang, isn;t it?" I asked her.

"Eh... Maybe. I overheard a group of shady pokémon: a skuntank, a koffing and a zubat, they were talking to one of Scrafty's goons through a communic-orb. They asked where their new batches of items were and the thug said there'll be one at Landslide cave.

"I-I can't do this one." I told her. "That skuntank, he's out for me. If I dare ruin this, it'll be the last straw- no scratch that, it's already the last straw."

"So?" She questioned with a fake sense of innocence. "Why is it a problem?"

"He already gassed my friend! I can't even do a mission with him right now, because he had to take a full body bath!" The anger was too overwhelming; already I could feel it swell inside of me despite letting some of it out.

"Well then we sneak up on them." Purrloin recommended. "Granted it's going to be difficult with the zubat's sonar and the skuntank's smell... However, we _could_ mask our scent with the skuntank's own gas. And I'm looking at someone who's one step ahead."

"What?" Now she mentioned it, my eyes did feel very irritated.

"You said your friend was gassed; so were you. The best part about a skuntank's gas is that you don't have to be directly in the radius to feel its effects, and even so most of it was likely invisible."

"Here, I can get rid of the worst of it." Purrloin handed me what looked like a vile of eyedrop seed oil, I popped the cap off with my index claw, and poured a tiny drip into both of my eyes. After the oil took effect my vision became much more clear, my eyes actually gained moisture and overall I felt better (though I still had the foul smell stuck on me). "Are you good to go now?" She asked. I nodded.

* * *

Purrloin and I waited near the entrance of Landslide Cave, she advised me to not to go anywhere near the cliff edges. All she said was 'There's a reason it's called Landslide Cave.' We camouflaged ourselves with a special powder that blended our colours in with the terrain, apparently this'll be good enough for us to hide so long as we don't get soaked with water.

Throughout the whole time Purrloin did nothing but search for Team Skull using a scope-lens, I tried to make a conversation but I was ignored every time I tried. "I see them up ahead." She notified. "Alright, don't move, speak or even twitch."

The gassy trio were at the entrance of the case, my body tensed up in an instant. This better work.

"Anythin' suspic'us, Chief?" Koffing asked.

Skuntank sniffed the air, my paws were clenching. "Naw. We're good. Zubat. Take the lead, we need you to guide us."

"Really Chief? You mean that?"

"Yes." Skuntank replied in a monotone voice. "Now hurry up." Zubat entered the cave, while the other two followed. I had my x-ray specs in hand to see how much distance is between us. I'm honestly surprised I didn't crush them by tensing up.

* * *

Purrloin, knowing this cave more than me took the lead. I could barely see anything from how dark it was; I was tempted to use flash, but knew I shouldn't, otherwise we'd risk giving our location away. Luckily us cat pokémon can see pretty well in the dark thanks to our eyes.

Purrloin inched closer to me and whispered. "Just because you have those specs on you doesn't mean we can follow them completely. There are a lot of tunnels in this cave, some of them collapse in on themselves thanks to to the landslides. So stay sharp." If it wasn't for her I'd be lost in this cave (or well... not here to begin with). She constantly sniffed for Skuntank's signature scent. It was harder than it looked since I also smelled just like him, and I could see her face scrunch up from how foul it was.

She stopped in her pathways, I did the same. "We have to go down."

"Huh?" I took a better look, good thing Purrloin saw it, or it would take more than a loose jumper to stop her from falling down.

She climbed down with little hesitation. "What are you waiting for? Another landslide? The longer we stay here, the less time we'll have to avoid a landslide." My mind instantly went to John making a comment on how 'this would be a perfect moment for a disaster to happen' and he'll probably be right. But knowing that my only way through this cave already went down the tunnel I forced myself down.

"See it's not so bad." _Speak for yourself_ she leaped onto horizontal pillar to horizontal pillar, it was difficult catching up, and I knew Purrloin was fed up with my incompetence. Maybe Team Skull was right about me...

Since Purrloin was ahead of me, I couldn't make up where to go. There were so many tunnels down here, and jumping from one place to another was already dangerous. I started to become uneasy, until I saw a bunch of chucked pebbles come my way, I wasn't sure what it was at start but then I realised they were landing on specific areas; the pillar I was on and others below me. I landed on each one in the order the pebbles landed.

Although it seemed bottomless I was reaching closer to the end floor, pebbles were being hurled a lot quicker than before; Purrloin's getting impatient. I got more and more nervous, I tried to fasten my pace, but all that did was make me slip a few times! My paw touched a smooth column and began to fall! As I screamed for my life I was lucky to grab one pillar in blind fear. I sighed in relief, I was grateful to be alive. I was clinging onto the pillar like an over attached child to their parent, I almost cried from shock.

My hearing sharpened once I heard the sound of flapping wings, the shadowed figures that flew around were too big to be a bird, and the wings looked more like those of an insect. I knew they weren't butterfrees or vivillons because they don't stay in dark habitats; they're venomoths. Initially they were just flying around needlessly, until they spotted me! Normally venomoths were passive, but seeing me, struggle helplessly they began to swarm me, but I countered with a shockwave attack. I hit target after target, most flew away scared but one (who was smart enough to keep a far distance between me) hit me good enough with a well-aimed psybeam!

Losing control and concentration, I slipped off the pillar I was on. I didn't have time to scream as I hit a slopped surface and trampled onto flat terrain. I groaned in pain and could feel myself blacking out.

"You okay pal?" I couldn't see much, only hear voice, it wasn't Purrloin that's for sure. "You look hurt... Here have a sitrus berry." The berry rolled and stopped at my nose, my injured hand reached out for the berry, as my claws stabbed into the berry I ate it up as quick as I could. While I was still in great pain, my body was able to stand on its four legs.

"Thanks." I said to the pokémon.

"No problem." I didn't give the pokémon a second glance, only when I saw his iconic legless body, spring tail and snout, I knew who he was. "I think we've met before haven't we? You're Shinx from Treasure Town, right?" The great thing about my hometown is that due to the low population, everyone remembers each other's names very quickly, it makes you feel special.

"Yeah, I am! And you're-"

"Spoink..." He said "...I hate to give you all the bad news all of a sudden, but you may have noticed, my pearl is missing... and I'm getting... tired." The worst part about being a spoink is that they have to keep a psychic pearl on their head to keep their heart beating. The pearl is given to them at birth, you can't replace it (unless they'd find another spoink's pearl) and lose it for long enough, their heart will stop. Spoinks are deemed lucky if they evolve into a grumpig.

"Don't worry I'll find it... Somewhere…" I checked my x-ray specs that I had in my back, somehow they didn't get a single scratch. On the lens showed where I was; I've gone a long way through this cave- almost to the end of the dungeon. Three lone specs were on the same floor as me, I'm positive it's Team Skull. Although they were pretty far from me, if I were to use flash I could risk illuminating the whole cave, which Purrloin didn't want me to do.

Instead, I let electricity charge through my body, this'll give me a good amount of light (not too much), and I could use this move to max out my special attack, as well as boost my electric moves.

Laying in front of some stalagmites, I saw the pearl! I wasted no time grabbing it and placed it on Spoink's head.

"Thanks a lot, Shinx!" He praised, sincerely "Now I can bounce around with no worries! Now, can you do me a favour and use your badge to get me out of here."

"Sure I can-" I was about to raise my badge and point it towards Spoink, until I remembered... "I'm sorry I- er can't."

"Why not?" He asked.

"Using my badge creates a giant beam of light. If I did it here, the whole cave would light up from how bright it would be."

"And if you did that, you'd get caught." I nodded my head. Thankfully Spoink understood my situation.

"But I must warn you, I'm trying to find some information about an outlaw's hideout. I had the idea of interrogating some of his grunts so I could know where he is." I told him. "So what I'm trying to say is just stay out of trouble."

"Will do."

"Okay they're this way, let's go!"

Whichever tunnel I took it didn't lead to Purrloin, I just hope she knows where I am, and we don't get separated for too long. Every hop Spoink did, a 'boing' noise was made, normally I would be fine with it, but being in a situation where I have to be stealthy, it's not helping.

"Are my bouncing noises a problem?" Spoink asked, unexpectedly. "I'm sorry... It's just I read your mind, I didn't mean to. If you want I'll wait here by my boinging self." He offered.

"What?! No. it's too dangerous."

"Alright then... Also I hate to be nosy, but are we looking for somebody named Purrloin?" Crud! He knows about her... wait no- "I'll keep it to myself, I promise."

"Thanks, Spoink." As much as I hate to be thinking this, I'm glad Spoink was here in the first place. If he wasn't Chatot would know what I was trying to track down members of the Hoodlum Gang.

I could see embers of light ahead of me, those must be torches. "Is that them?" Spoink wondered.

"Yep, that's them." I saw six pokémon talking amongst themselves, guarding a king-sized chest. I couldn't what tel exactly what pokémon they were though from how bright the fire was.

"Is it me, or is the boss not very fond of you, Krooks?" I recognise that voice; it's the pangoro, I remember seeing him in Scrafty's previous camp.

"What d'ya mean?" The deep, thuggish voice was definitely the krookodile's, I also saw him at the old camp.

"I dunno, he just seems to like giving ya' death threats more than anything else is all" The pangoro responded. "After all, he did give ya' quite the uppercut-" The thug wheezed out uncontainable laughter. "I'm surprised ya' teeth aren't broken."

"Just shut up, we have customers do deal with."

"So, I believe we have a deal, chaw-haw-haw!" I didn't even need to see him; the smell was a dead giveaway.

"Actually... We demand a little more of those coins." A male unfeazant said, his speech was more arrogant than the others. "About, em... ten-thousand more?"

"Chaw-haw-haw! You're kidding right?" The unfeazant gestured a 'no'. "Seriously?! Sixty-thousand was the deal! What's with the sudden price rise!?"

"You haven't heard?" The unfeazant asked, whilst cocking his head.

"Heard about what?" Skuntank replied.

"Our last batches of items were destroyed. We caught the attackers- three of them at least: a corphish, a trubbish and a grimer. Two of them got away... supposedly. Scrafty made the assumption that one of the attackers would've been finished if nobody could've been there to help them." They know! They know!

"Who got away?"

"A shinx." That was it, I'm dead! I'm dead!

"Pfft a shinx?!" Skuntank hollered. "That wimp back at the guild?!"

"The 'guild'? Yes. But that's not what's important. thanks to them our previous valuables were never sold and lessened in stock. Thus we raised raised the price! Now. seventy-thousand for the stat-boosting vitamins, or no deal."

I could sense some annoyance in the Skull leader, it actually made me smile a little. "Fine! Take my money you greedy snob!" He chucked a couple of coins at the unfeazant. Having what he wanted, he gladly let Skuntank take the stat-boosting vitamins. As he backtracked through the tunnel I heard him mumbling. "I was wondering why we couldn't get find that batch at Serenity River."

"Do you hear that cheif?" Zubat asked. He was obviously talking about Spoink's bouncing, Spoink himself knew too, and he knew he wouldn't be able to stop bouncing.

"Don't care." Skuntank dismissed (thankfully). "I've wasted enough time. Let's find the other outlaw, and do those other punks a favour by stopping a terf war."

"Whatev'r ya' say chief, we got ya' back!" Koffing assured. Skuntank climbed back up the tunnel, Zubat and Koffing followed by flying/floating up. At least that was them out the way. But how do I beat the Hoodlum grunts? I looked back up on them, and tried of a way to beat them. The only who would even remotely easy was the unfeazant, and even then these are at least six star ranked outlaws, I'd have no chance beating them by myself.

"So do we go back to the boss now?" the krookodile asked.

"No." The unfeazant replied. "You heard what he told us: don't come back until the last customer is served."

"Yeah, about that... Shouldn't they be here?" The pangoro wondered.

"Soon. Our business runs on a strict timetable; every customer we've had knows that." the unfeazant explained.

I've been waiting for Purrloin for ages. Where is she? I hope she knows where I am. I glanced back at my x-ray specs and noticed a dot on the minimap that wasn't there before. In all of a sudden everything went completely black! The torches were put out, and not by the grunts!

I heard loud slashing noises, after each slash a grunt yelled in pain. I even heard a few punches.

"You hit me, idiots!" the unfeazant scowled.

Slash after slash, the commotion died down and the embers of light were bought back. The grunts were down but no sign of the attacker.

"Behind you." Said a voice all too familiar. I jumped out of my skin, Spoink too. "Thanks for falling down that pit by the way. If you didn't, I probably would've spent more time finding them." She did that typical smrik of hers, I hated it the more I saw it.

"Uh... yeah, thanks. Let's just arrest these outlaws."

"Not the krookodile, we'll need him for interrogation."

I waved my badge over us and the outlaws, a massive beam of light surrounded us all and warped us back to treasure town in an instant. I went to find officer magnezone with Spoink to hand in the pangoro and unfeazant, Purrloin stayed in the maze of trees to interrogate the krookodile.

* * *

 _'Come on, wake up already, I didn't hit you that hard!'_

"Ughhh. Where I am?" _'About time._ '

"Treasure town." I told him. "By now, your friends have already been handed over to the federation. As soon as I'm done with you, you'll join them."

"W-what? I can't! I have a family to feed!" _'That's what they always say.'_

"Well, you should've found some other way to get them food then if they were that important." pitiful! He looks right at ground and cries. "Sorry, but crocodile tears won't work on me."

"H-hold on! What if I tell you about Scrafty's hideouts!" Now he seemed desperate. "I'm serious. If you let me off the hook I'll tell you where he is... Please? I always hated him, he never pays me enough, and is a total-"

"How do I know if you're not lying, huh? Who's to say you won't use these excuses just to tell your boss about me or my plan to capture you all?" I peered into him with suspicion... Seems I've left him speechless. "The best way for me to know if I just hand you over-"

"No- please don't-"

"Stop interrupting. If the information you've given to me is legitimate and I actually arrest Scrafty, you can go back to your family. Do I have a deal?"

"Yeah- sure! You got a-

"Good. Also may I ask? Are you still able to walk after I slashed you endlessly?"

"I think so."

"Okay then." I delivered a final blow with a critical slash; he's down.

"Did everything go well?" Shinx asked, appearing out of nowhere.

"Yeah, it did, but don't go yet. I hate standing in public, so I'm going to need your communic-orb."

"Sure." He handed me his orb. I rubbed his and mine both together, they both emitted an ice-blue colour which shortly faded.

"Good luck with whatever." I told him as I went on to continue with my stuff.


	9. A Stench of Retaliation Part II

**Chapter 9: A Stench of Retaliation: Part II**

"Hey, er... Purrloin?" Great! She left me to take care of the krookodile. I kind of overheard their conversation, and good Arceus, how will I explain this to Officer Magnezone? It's bad enough that I had to use the charge on my badge to send the other outlaws to the federation without anyone noticing?

I used my badge (thankful that it still had some energy left in it) to summon a beam of light. In a flash I was at the entrance of the police department. A group of magnemites were talking amongst themselves until noticing me.

"ZTTT, I see you've captured a high-rank outlaw. That's rather impressive, ZTTT." One of them told me. "ZTTT, no wonder everyone talks about you, ZTTT."

"I'm just glad to be of service." I said modestly. "But before you go, I have a favour to ask."

"ZTTT, what would that be?" The same magnemite inquired.

"Don't let the guild know I did this, or anyone for that matter." I pleaded. "I don't think they'll want me doing something this dangerous."

"ZTTT, understood. You can leave the criminal with us, we'll take it from here, ZTTT." The magnemite assured.

"Thanks."

* * *

As I was on the crossroads, heading to the guild, John showed up behind me, right at time. His trousers were replaced with what his kind would call 'jogging bottoms' and equipped himself with a few different coloured sacks on his weist, likely for holding seeds.

"I was training at Marowak's Dojo. What did I miss when I was gone?" He asked, curiously. _'Oh, if you only knew.'_

"Not much, just rescued a spoink is all."

"That's assuring. It'll be enough for the guild to know we weren't 'shierking work', right?" I nodded. "Good, good. Do you want to hear a funny story?"

"Er... Sure."

"So I was at Serenity River, cleaning off all the nasty chemicals as best I could. And as I was drying off, this lotad asked where you were." He explained. "I gave him the true story. I know of the whole 'snitches get stitches' saying, but what was he going to do? Walk up to the skuntank and tell him to cut him out? No." He began dragging on as usual, but I still listened as best I could. "Anyway, the lotad said that body lotions are a thing here and that they're not even that hard to get. Embarrassed as I was, I still laughed it off. But still, if you would've told me about that sooner, I could've joined you on another John and Shinx adventure."

"Ha... That-that's funny..."

"But thanks for not telling me- and that's not sarcasm. I really needed the day off. Maybe I should thank the skuntank, just for laughs." He began chuckling until he saw my face. He knew that speaking anything remotely close to that name agitated me. "-On second thought, perhaps not."

* * *

Before we went to the Mess Hall to have dinner, I explained to Chatot what I- 'we' did for work. "Ah, so I heard correctly that you two saved Spoink's life then?"

"Yeah, we found him at Drenched Bluff." I lied, considering Landslide Cave was too dangerous to mention. The bell ringed, and we said nothing more as we made our way to the Mess Hall.

I couldn't bring myself to eat any of the food. Not because I was sick or the food looked disgusting, but merely by the fact Team Skull were sitting near us (Trubbish and Grimer gladly gave their seats up for Zubat and Koffing). The end seats were always empty and I knew once Koffing said they have joined the guild, they would be sitting there. Their eating habits were foul, they didn't close their mouths when chewing, they made gross sounds when doing so and as always, they smelt bad. Nobody else really took notice, aside from being bothered by the bad smells (except for Chatot and Wigglytuff, they didn't mind at all), they just went on to eating their food.

Sleeping wasn't too bad. Aside from forgetting to rid myself of the horrible smell I had, nothing kept me awake.

* * *

"They call that dinner? I'm hardly full and nobody's at the Mess Hall, you boys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Whoa-ho-ho, eating the remaining food, Chief?"

"Chaw-haw-haw, yes."

"Heh-heh, how devilish!"

* * *

"UP AND AT 'EM IT'S MORNING!"

We were starting our morning briefing. Shinx's stench still lingered on him, nobody liked the smell and tried to hide their disgust, I could tell from their expressions that they weren't going to be as cheerful as usual. As Shinx was standing there, embarrassed, I gave him the lotion I got from the lotad at Serenity River.

"Just looking out for you, buddy." I assured, he returned a weak smile. He wasn't all that happy either, needless to say I can't blame him. Standing there with Wigglytuff and his crew the Team Skull leader gave us a smug smirk, I took no notice, though Shinx couldn't get his eyes off him.

"Wigglytuff? I believe you had something to announce?" Chatot hinted.

"Ah yes! How rude of me!" He said cheerfully, before clearing his throat. "Pokémon! Today's the day three new apprentices have joined us!" He declared. "The trio have gladly joined us for our great expedition in hope of making us stronger as a team! And although their arrival is temporary, I hope they become an important part of us, and will be treated with hospitality!"

"Are you sure you haven't forgot anything else, Guildmaster?" Chatot hinted once again.

"Ah, yes. Apologies for my manners, new apprentices! Please introduce yourselves to our entire guild!"

"Whoa-ho-ho! I'm Koffing!"

"Heh-heh! Name's Zubat. Glad to meet you."

"And I'm the leader of Team Skull. The name's Skuntank. Remember it." This information's kind of useless to me since I can't detect the 'hidden phonemes'. "Especially you two." He said to us. All jokes aside Shinx and I are put in a sticky situation. For as long as they are here, it's best I don't let my guard down even once.

Chatot began turning his head to both us and Team Skull, confused. Hopefully he'll catch on to what Skuntank meant. "Wait, you've already acquainted? That simplifies things." As figured, we're on our own. Great!

The guild were whispering to themselves in displeasure. "Doesn't the guildmaster and Chatot think something stinks about this... literally?" The generally noisy pokémon Loudred whispered (much to my surprise).

"Ew... How can the guildmaster handle this?" Sunflora wondered.

"I sure hope this expedition ends soon. Yup, yup." Bidoof quietly added.

"Alright everyone let's get down to work!" Chatot cheered.

The guild let out an unusual flat 'hooray'. The only two pokémon who were at all cheerful were Trubbish and Grimer, who I forgot even existed.

"What's this? Where are your usual spirits?" Chatot questioned.

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING, CHATOT!" Loudred shouted. "THIS STINKS! HOW CAN YOU EXPECT US TO BE CHEERFUL WHEN-" The whole ground shook like a violent earthquake, everyone in the building, (including me) jumped out of their skin! (except Skuntank, he only looked slightly startled.) Everyone's attention turned to Wigglytuff. He seemed visibly upset with his ears drooping and eyes closed; the trembling in his body suggested he was ready to unleash some held in power!

"Oh no!" Chatot exclaimed in despair. "It's the guildmaster! His rage is building!" All balance I had was gone, I fell on my front and braced myself for whatever came! The harsh vibrations barely let me make out anything. "If the guildmaster loses it, the consequences will certainly be catastrophic! Everyone, please! Be cheerful no matter how much it hurts!"

Out of genuine fear, the guild forced out a cheery 'hooray' in an instant the tremors just magically stopped. Wigglytuff's happy-go-lucky demeanour was restored, he went back in his chamber as if none of it happened. Everyone went to do their duties hoping that would never happen again. As soon as the sudden shock and confusion wore off I lifted myself back to my hind legs, knowing how I reacted, physically to the tremor, I was more than certain Team Skull found it funny; if they did, laugh it up. I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve...

Chatot called us over for today's mission. "For some mysterious reason, the guild's food stock has reached a famine. While we do have the garden at the back to retain our stock, our supply of perfect apples have all disappeared." He explained. "Although it may seem not much of a problem, it really is. You see perfect apples are the guildmaster's favourite, and they're not just 'any apple', they are much bigger and more delicious. And if we don't replace the stock we have now... It's safe to say we'll know what will happen."

I raised my arm to ask a question. "Go on." Chatot responded.

"Now I know it's a bit late to ask this, but why did you never grow perfect apples of your own if they are so important?"

"I was getting to that part. You see, perfect apples are the way they are because they grow under the influence of the soil and grass at the end of apple woods. You'll never find any other place where the grass is greener nor the soil will be more fertile. Expert horticulturists have tried to replicate the goodness of the apples but have all failed.

"So please all I ask is that you get at least ONE perfect apple from Apple Woods." It seemed Chatot was heavily relying on us for this job, not sure why us of everyone else, but we are the 'prodigies' after all.

* * *

We were at Treasure Town, Shinx waited as I got my items out of kangaskhan storage, which re-opened yesterday, it was better timing than ever (although I could've just resorted to using a personal vault for practicalities regardless).

"If I were you I'd put that relic fragment in storage." I told Shinx. "That's if you've no longer lost it."

"Funny thing is, it was at the guild this whole time." He said whilst giving me the relic fragment, I gave it to the kangaskhan for her to put it away.

"It's all stored safely, you can count on me, honey." She assured. From what I could barely gather from Kangaskhan was despite how tough she looks, she's considered a very motherly pokémon to all (likely due to her species inheriting that trait), who always retains a happy attitude to everyone around her.

"You're scared of Team Skull, aren't you?" He nodded. I scanned the area to make sure they weren't spying on us. "You remember when they said they had some plotting to do?"

"Yes."

"Well, I thought of a plan to get them off our back. You know how Koffing and Zubat are completely useless without their leader?" I inquired, he said 'yes'. "Well the other day I bought these warp seeds; they're sure to keep Skuntank away from us for a good amount of time, and so long as he's not on the battlefield, we can take on Zubat and Koffing easily."

"But what if he finds his way back?" Shinx questioned. "We managed to find Drowzee when he used the same seeds on us."

"True, but we had the X-ray specs with us, and even if Skuntank has a pair of them himself, we'll get out the woods as quickly as we can, thanks to our badges."

"Yeah, I like this plan." Shinx said with a smile. ' _good'._

* * *

The sunlight shone brightly amongst the trees of Apple Woods, most of which were deciduous and started to show their colours darkening into reds, yellows and oranges, most apple trees are in season during this time which would probably mean the fruits will be tastier than usual. Our feet scrunched on the mouldered leaves as we advanced in the woods.

"Remember to use those x-ray specs." I told Shinx. "They could catch us off-guard at any given moment."

"Roger that." He said.

* * *

I much as I'd like to say anything interesting about the woods, it's really not that special (or exciting for that matter), weak bug pokémon would try to attack us, but would get nowhere near to doing any damage. Being that they were mostly weedles, caterpies and burmys, their choice of attacks were rather limited and predictable. Even butterfrees and beedrills stood little of a chance thanks to Shinx learning shockwave and attacking them from a distance.

Shinx told me the apples grew at the deepest part of the woods. Thankfully it's not that far ahead so we get it over and done with, the area was pretty clear, nothing really bothered to attack us, Shinx glanced at his x-ray specs for any sign of Team Skull (or anybody for that matter) he tapped me on the back, and showed me the specs. Four red dots were hiding in the trees that were on our left and right.

Shinx used his x-ray vision to detect what's hidden. "They're not Team Skull." He confirmed. "I think it's just some exeggutors."

"Are they moving?" I asked.

"No, they might be hiding, but I don't know..."

Before we moved on, I noticed something falling from the sky, it was oval shaped. The object landed only centimetres in front of us, at first glance the strange object looked a lot like an egg and began to crack... I saw several more drop and knew what this was all about!

"Get back!" I told Shinx as he sprinted away with quick attack. Explosions occurred left and right, it was like a warzone with nothing but grenades! I took note of the eggs and tried to take the safest and quickest routes. Although they began more frequent (and a bit deafening), I was able to hide behind a tree, Shinx saw my location, I didn't even need to give him advice he just sprinted off to take down the exeggutors from the opposite side, that left me with the other two to take down...

...And speak of the devil, one has shown its faces. Its expression was as hostile as any other wild pokémon, and despite my type disadvantage against it, this exeggutor is no different compared to anything I've encountered so far.

I attacked first by hurling a blast seed at it (ironic since they were the ones that were bombing us), upon contact the seed exploded and left them stunned, which gave me a chance to fire a water pulse that struck them in the face. The three-faced tree pokémon was left dazed and quite literally confused by my last attack, tottering around and attempting to attack me with seed bombs only to get hurt by their own explosions. Knowing that the confusion status is only temporary I had to take advantage of this and act fast. I thought back to my training at the dojo...

* * *

"I can see you've learnt waterfall and water pulse in your most recent travels. Waterfall is an excellent move for jumping great heights and pushing your opponent away, water pulse is great for far-ranged combat. Try practising on this training bag."Marowak dragged the bag to the centre of the room, it was twice his size and looked moderately heavy, likely due to it being stuffed with compact sand.

I started simple by charging up to the training bag with a ball of water in my two paws, using the force of the water combined with my own, the sandbag fell on its back... As did I.

"Remember to fight the power of your own attack. Coordinate with the water and retain a good stance." Marowak advised.

I attempted a second attack, this time putting my left leg in front of my body, as my right leg was behind it, my attack was a little more hooked as well to insure that my target would be sent upwards and fly further... and It worked! I was so proud of myself, to achieve something like this! As much as I missed my human body, I found it exhilarating how I could use these powers as a mudkip.

I experimented with different approaches, using the force of waterfall to bounce in the air and fire with water pulses, or even leap at the training bag and attack with a second waterfall attack. I did my best to not cause too much ruckus, but Marowak didn't really mind that much. And if you thought my experiments didn't stop there, you'd be wrong. I went as far as to use the walls and use my waterfall attack to pull off a wall jump.

* * *

With another blast seed in my hand, and using what I practised, I jumped over the exeggutor, lobbed said seed whilst simultaneously firing a water pulse at my target. Once my feet landed I sprang towards a tree and bounced off it, hitting the exeggutor with a concentrated waterfall attack. The exeggutor was down, leaving me a chance to breath for air... Only for the next exeggutor to approach me.

I groaned to myself, although I hate to admit it, that last one took all my effort (and two of my blast seeds) to even knock unconscious. Regardless that still didn't stop me from confronting this one. The three faces stared daggers at me, trying to look intimidating, however they just came of as a little derpy.

My body unwillingly let itself off the floor, floating upside-down, immediately knowing this was the exeggutor's doing, to which I shot another water-based projectile at the pokémon, pressuring it to multitask. As I predicted, my opponent was forced to let go of me, being upside down though, I fell on the floor at an awkward position, putting strain on my neck, I shrugged it of, but not after having a seed bomb directly shot at me on contact! The explosion sent me back a good distance, feeling a burning sensation throughout my chest! Blunt trauma spread across my back, as it slammed against the hardened bark of a tree. I looked back at the exeggutor who prepared its next attack.

The pain kept my body firmly stuck to the body to the ground, refusing to let me get up. I thought back the pain, barely able to stand up... Ironically the tree that caused my injuries, just so happened to also hold my weight, as I leaned on it for support.

My clothing, bag and sacks, were surprisingly still intact from the explosion. I dug my hand in the sack containing stun seeds, and threw it towards my opponent. The seed released a powder, that intruded on the exeggutor's face. This inflicted my opponent with a petrified state. From what I've learned, if a pokémon enters the petrify status, they'll be unable to move at all unless someone or something makes contact with it.

I spotted Shinx hiding behind a bush, by the looks of it, he handled those exeggutors better than I did. I was up close with the tree pokémon. Shinx, knowing what I was planning, pounced with a bite attack to the waist. I joined in by using a strength attack to ram it against one of the many trees. At last, all of them were knocked out.

"Woo-hoo!" Exclaimed Shinx, almost out of breath. "We make a great team, don't you think?"

"Yep," I simply replied. He offered a high-paw (with no fingers, I really can't call it a high-five) to which I returned. His spirits seemed to be uplifted.

* * *

We were closer and closer to the end of the woods. It was quite easy to tell, as the grass was more thick and showed off its greener colours.

As good as it was to get this mission over with I couldn't shake off the feeling that we were being followed.

"Any updates on the X-ray specs?" I asked Shinx.

"Nope." Was all he said. The warp seed that lay in my paw was grasped tightly, if by any chance we get taken by surprise, I'm a step ahead.

"John! Up there!" Shinx exclaimed.

"Where?!" I was ready to throw the warp seed, not only after I realised he was talking about the Perfect Apple Tree. The apples, big with a shiny red colour that was reflected by the moisture, were dangling from the tree. All we have to do now is to get them. "Oh..." Embarrassing... "Anyway, if nobody's in those trees you can-"

"Hold up." He told me. "I can see three red dots... It's Team Skull!"

In fear of being gassed, we both backed away, from the tree I gave Shinx a stun seed to use for himself.

"We- We know you're hiding in there!" Shinx shouted "...C-Come out!"

"Chaw-haw-haw! They're not as foolish as I thought they were!" That was undoubtedly Skuntank. The toxic trio revealed themselves as they jumped down the branches, I can tell by their faces that all three of them are up to no good.

"Heh-heh, it's wimpy and company." Zubat retorted, that alone was enough to make Shinx grit his teeth. "What took you so long?"

"We've been 'aving us a picnic of perfect apples, while waiting for you to show up." Koffing mentioned.

"So..." I said. "We're not blind, there's clearly more on the tree." I pointed out. "And after what happened this morning, you'd be an idiot to eat all of Wigglytuff's perfect apples... Oh wait, it was you lot who did that, wasn't it?"

"Chaw-haw-haw! Care to elaborate?"

"Chatot mentioned food supplies were lower than usual." Shinx explained. "Most of it ran out; that included the perfect apples."

"Chaw-haw-haw! They nailed it on the head like a hammer!" Skuntank remarked. "And what do you mean idiots? We all know we won't get the blame for eating them. And if you two were to tattle on us, it probably wouldn't do well for your great expedition." _He's got a point._

Shinx whispered in my direction. "Let's get rid of these freaks while we have the chance."

"Chaw-haw-haw! Mighty rude for you to whisper about knocking us out?" Skuntank said. "Why, we were going to offer our help for your mission." Shinx's expression remained bitter, not trusting him in the slightest (nor did I for that matter).

"You don't believe me? Getting the perfect apples couldn't be easier." His attention turned to the left side of the tree. "Watch this." He headbutted the tree with full force, causing it to rain perfect apples. Now's the perfect opportunity to use a warp seed on him. A blast seed might not damage him enough, if I use a sleep seed or totter seed the effects might not last long enough and one stun seed (which is all I have left of that seed and gave to Shinx) isn't strong enough to petrify them all at once.

Skuntank returned back to his original position which was a better timing than ever for me to use my warp seed. "Go on, scoop up those perfect apples and scuttle back to the guild. Chaw-haw-ha-" Not putting down my opportunity I threw the warp seed in his direction! A cloud of dust engulfed him as he vanished. "Next time if you want to make someone fall for your ploy. Best not to end your sentence with a laugh."

Zubat and koffing backed away from the dust, looking rather stunned "Whoa-...ho-ho"

"No hard feelings." I told them I told them as I readied my water pulse-

"John! Look out!" Shinx warned me, as Skuntank, charged at me seemingly out of nowhere, using his headbutt attack to send me flying! I let loose a grunt, the attacl itself wouldn't have hurt as much as it did if it wasn't for the damage I already sustained beforehand... Regardless it prevented me from fighting back. Shinx stood in front of me, making sure I don't get hit by his next attack

"Chaw-haw-haw, don't even think about it." He warned Shinx as he was ready to attack. Seeing the damage I was in, he backed away slightly, but still kept his stance.

"Whoa-ho-ho Great job Chief!"

"Heh-heh, they can't fight back when the other is at risk."

"Chaw-haw-haw! You two wimps really thought you stood a chance? Warp seeds are useless when are you are at the depths of the dungeon."

Shinx was quick to respond. "What? But it worked for-"

"At the depths of any dungeon, there are no nearby rooms. Therefore they're useless. Chaw-haw-haw!"

"I'm still, not backing down!" Shinx asserted. "I'm done with being a coward! so long as my friend doesn't get hurt, I'll fight all three of you."

"Heh-heh, look at this Chief we got a tough guy here!" Zubat retorted.

"Whoa-ho-ho. Shall we show him our special attack, Chief?" Koffing offered.

"Sure." His attention turned back to Shinx, I told him that he didn't need do to this, but he chose not to listen. "In recognition of your courage... We'll be honoured to take you on fair and square. Chaw-haw-haw!" Zubat kept to the sidelines, as Koffing and Skuntank moved closer.

"I-I won't hold back." Shinx said.

"Neither will we." Skuntank responded. "Let's see if you can withstand this attack, Koffing and I, are going to use..." Shinx's heart beat fiercely, as brave as he is, I could tell he's afraid. I dug through my bag for an escape orb- "Our noxious gas combo!" Both of them let loose a gas cloud, the gas went through our mouths, as our body movements slowed down and grew tired, forcing itself to sleep...

* * *

Koffing and Skuntank were gone, Zubat however, was left sedated by the effects. I looked all over the area for Shinx and couldn't find him. The effects of the gas still left me with some dizziness, I let myself settle down until my mind was clear enough, before getting up, which was painful. My constant back aches made it difficult to walk, let alone stand, but I cast it aside to find Shinx. I called out his name..."Shinx?!" No response. Checking the X-ray specs he dropped, I could see a red dot where Zubat would be located and a yellow dot where the tree is. ' _Thank Arceus.'_

He popped out the leaves and told me something unfortunate. "I've looked all over this tree. The perfect apples... They're gone."


	10. Reap the Scales

**Chapter 10: Reap the Scales**

Like Shinx said, all the perfect apples were robbed from the branches, not even one that may have fallen off the tree could be found. "What do we do?" He asked in desperation.

"Aside from giving Wigglytuff a regular apple and making him think it's a 'perfect' one, which is a pretty bad idea... I don't have one."

"It's going to get late." Shinx informed whilst pointing to the sky. "The gas Skuntank used on us, must've kept us asleep for hours."

Before we (grudgingly) headed back to the guild, Zubat awoke from his sleep. "Wah!" He exclaimed out of shock. "They left without me!?" Since there was no point in attacking him, we let him fly off to find his team. ' _Some team they have, when they couldn't even bring a fallen ally back with them.'_

"I'm sorry, John..." Shinx said.

"What?" I questioned in a confused manner.

"For trying to take on Team Skull. I should've known better and used that stun seed you gave me on Skuntank." He explained. "If I did, we may have gotten at least one of those perfect apples."

"Oh, don't worry about that." I assured. "Say, if you did use it, all Zubat or Koffing would have had to do is touch him and the effects would've instantly worn off." Before using my badge to transport us via giant beam in the sky, I checked my bag to see if they stole anything; they were nice enough to not do that at least, as I found out everything was still there. "As much as I don't like what's in store for us, we should head back."

"Yeah..." Shinx responded, visibly upset and disappointed in himself. I used the badge to summon a beam of light, that was strong enough to lift both of us off the terrain.

* * *

Awaiting our arrival Chatot paced back and fourth on the second floor of the guild. "Them two should have been here by now... what's taking them so long..." Chatot said to himself in distress. "If they have failed- No they shouldn't, I chose them over anyone else... T-They won't..."

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" Diglett proclaimed from the underground floor of the guild. "It's a... boot? John you gotta stop wearing those!"

"Why? It's one way to know who I am anyway, right?"

"Yeah, but what happens if somebody uses the same boot, to intrude on our territory?"

"I could easily say it's me... Unless a ditto or zoroark copy my form, but even then, without the boots, they could still get in." I replied. "Now, I'd hate to be bossy, but will you let us in?" I asked.

"Okay, fine. Get in." He replied, as the doors to the guild opened.

As we climbed down the ladder to the second floor, we met the first pokémon we needed to inform on this... Less than successful mission.

"You took your time... And smell badly" Chatot acknowledged. "Ahem. Please... Tell you found those perfect apples."

Before Shinx and I were up to this point I told him I'd do the talking. "I'm sorry... But we didn't..."

"What?!" Chatot bellowed. "Oh no! What am I going to do?!" He grieved to himself, flapping around in an erratic case of panic. "No seriously! What I am going to do?!"

Trying to reason with him I came up with an excuse. "You see… when we got there, the apples were already gone, and we were as thorough as humanly possible, so Wigglytuff... Might have to go without a perfect apple for tonight-"

"Silence!" He yelled, With the sudden pitch in tone, I quickly turned silent. "I don't want to hear anymore excuses! You have left me no choice... As punishment for not fulfilling your task, you will not get any dinner tonight!" _'All of this for one apple?'_ I dared not to question with it, especially since of what happened this morning. "Just be grateful your punishment wasn't anymore severe. You've saddled me, with this unfortunate task... And I shouldn't suffer the consequences alone..."

* * *

Since Chatot, had to tell Wigglytuff about the unfortunate turn of events, we were also in the Guildmaster's Chamber with him. Facing the banner that was pinned to the back wall, The Guildmaster turned around, greeting us. "Hiya!" He beamed. "You bought me some perfect, didn't you? Thank you!" I was about to spill the bad news, until Chatot beat me to it.

"Actually..." He piped in. "I hate to inform you on this but... The apprentices... They failed to get you some perfect apples."

"Oh, it's okay!" He said.

"Wait, so you're fine with this?" I asked him, thinking it would've been much worse.

"Of course!" He assured. "Sometimes, not everybody wins. Don't feel blue, don't feel blue!" He chimed "After all, there are plenty of perfect apples."

"That's... Um, not what he meant." Chatot responded, nervously. "You see the amount of perfect apples, we had harvested... Are erm... Zero."

"Oh..." Was all Wigglytuff said.

"Therefore... not even one perfect apple... was obtained." The stuttering in his sentence built up the more he talked. "As unfortunate, as it is... You'll... Have to do without a perfect apple for tonight..." His eyes released tiny bits of fluid, and not the kind you'd cry out. "Yep, t-that's what it means!" Overwhelmed, with the current situation, Chatot let out uncontrollable laughter, I found it... Discomforting to say the least...

Tears streamed down the Guildmaster's face as he sniffled.

"Oh, dear! Guildmaster?" All three of us knew what was coming, the Guldmaster vibrated violently, as tremors occurred! Due to my bad balance, I was swept off my feet, as I could only brace myself for what's to come! Chatot, and Shinx, who were barely visible, rooted their feet to the ground as hard as they could. "Quick cover your ears!" Chatot commanded, with his wings over his own canals.

"What?!" Shinx questioned.

"Don't argue with me just do it!" Being four-legged, it was near impossible for Shinx to shield his ears from the noise and stand on the ground. Seeing that, he didn't want to lose hearing, he covered them in desperation, as he legs no longer held him.

The tremors intensified to an extreme point that miniature explosions were let off inexplicably! They were deafening to say the least, and at this rate he'll cause the whole establishment to collapse on itself! "Wahhhh!" The guildmaster's tears cascaded out of his eyes, as his tantrum worsened-

"Sorry to disturb you." It all stopped in an instant, all thanks to Team Skull entering the room (which I can't believe I said). "We've come to deliver a perfect apple."

"Huh?" Wigglytuff questioned, his tears drying up and fading quicker than water in a scorching desert.

Koffing and Zubat shoved us out the way to make a path for Skuntank. I tempted to resist or remark something like 'Whoa easy there.' But that wasn't the time and place for it. The toxic skunk gave Wigglytuff a perfect apple for him to eat. "Here you go, a genuine perfect apple. Don't worry about running out either, we brought six others." He said. "Take it as a token of our friendship."

"Oh wow!" Wigglytuff exclaimed. "You went out and got it for me?! Yay! Thank you! Friends! Friends!"

"Th-thank you very kindly" Chatot praised "Thanks to you, we've all been spared a catastrophe."

"Ah, so that's why there weren't any perfect apples left." I added. "You went ahead and did the job for us." I turned to Chatot. "So er... does the punishment still stand?..."

"Don't take me as a fool, John!" Chatot snapped. "You clearly saw this as an easy mission and used it as an excuse to doze around!" _'Oh-oh. Looks like we've taken a left turn trough injustice lane, here.'_ "I suggest you show appreciation for what these trio have done to get you out of this mess."

"Chaw-haw-haw. No, no, it's quite alright. After all, the guild has been very generous and hospital to us." At least that spares Shinx and I the pain of forcing a sincere thank-you. "It's only right that we try to repay that favour in our own way." I better keep an eye on him, for the guildmaster's sake and that I also don't take fondly to those who are two-faced.

"Ah! I see that you're the most admirable of pokémon." Chatot stated. "To be able to embark on expedition with someone as noble as the likes of you three... It will be truly inspiring!" On second thoughts maybe, having the entire building collapse on us would've been the better alternative.

"Chaw-haw-haw. No, no! You will be the ones to inspire us." Truly, we look forward to our expedition." Skuntank responded. "It's dinner time now, so we'll be off to eat." Skuntank added. "Until tomorrow then, Chaw-haw-haw." Welp, that's the last straw, if gassing me twice, stealing our job and getting us blamed for failure wasn't enough, you decide to do, this... Naturally, in a scenario like this, I'm supposed to make you my sworn enemy or a different term: 'rival', but too bad one of us understands the concept of karma.

* * *

After the meeting John and I had with Wigglytuff, we were positioned on the far end of the mess hall as we watched all the other guild members eat... I did everything in my power to not shed a tear, if I do it'll just show a sign of weakness which Team Skull will revel in... I've started to hate these three with a burning passion, every time one of them looked me in the eye my urge to zap them with a Shock Wave attack grows by the second, sadly I can't fight back and they know this... I'm simply too weak...

* * *

It was the first day of my apprenticeship; moments before, I met John, I took a big breath before I stepped on the grate in front of the Guild's entrance "Whoa-ho-ho, wot's a wimp like you doin' on de outside of da guild?" There they were, Koffing and Zubat, it was clear to me that I was being followed; I recognised that pongy stench of gas wherever I went.

"Heh-heh. Isn't it obvious? He thinks he can be an apprentice, what a joke."

"Hey! I-I'll have you know I am an apprentice!" I told them in an attempt to stand up for myself.

"Whoa-ho-ho, Guess, Chief was right, then. They really DO only hire da weakest! Whoa-ho-ho!"

"Anyhow, we demand dat you give us your loot! And befor' ya' say or else wot, we'll take it by force."

"Heh-heh, and we'd rather not do it by force... Though that doesn't mean we won't feel bad for doing it."

I couldn't let them steal my relic fragment, no matter the threat. So I said 'no' the best way I could. "B-Bite me!"

"Whoa-ho-ho trust me wimp, dere's two of us, an' only one of you, you won't stand a chance." Goosebumps occurred in my legs, my body went tense, I slowly backed away treading on the grate Diglett was below.

"Pokémon detected! Pokémon detected!" The sudden exclamation made be jump out of my skin, Koffing used this as a perfect opportunity to take my bag, he caught it between his two, right fangs, and thought between the bag and I, in a game of tug of war. I was easily winning over, thanks to using more of my body, however...

"Heh-heh, leave it to me!" Transparent rings came out of Zubat's mouth, as they travelled through my ears; he attacked me with supersonic, and it left me too dazed to fight back! Both Koffing and Zubat both used their fangs to yank the bag out of my grasps, and fled the scene

"Heh-heh. Thanks wimp!"

* * *

It seemed like forever sitting at the mess with no food, but when it was over I was thankful it was over, not just because I was starving, but I didn't want to show tears in front of the whole guild (especially Team Skull). Once we got back to our room I immediately closed the door, almost with full force, and curled up in my bed as my need for sleep thought against my held in emotions and hunger pangs… My throat ached in pain as my stomach growled… I can't take it… I can't—

"Shinx, wait… I saw the same look on your face since we returned to the Guild. I didn't mention it sooner, because you probably wouldn't have wanted to 'look weak'. But you're holding in your emotions, aren't you?" My eyelids opened right back up, he was right… What do I say?

I already knew nothing would convince John otherwise. I confronted him, with tears running down my eyes, with tiny bits of snot running down my nose. "Y-Yes."

As I let loose my tears, John opened our door slightly, and peered through the hallway, he quickly closed it gently and turned back to me.

"Look, I know today, hasn't gone as planned, and despite getting unjustifiably punished, and left to practically malnourish, it's not the end of the world."

"That's not the problem…" I said. "I'm starting to think… Maybe I'm not cut out for this job."

"Are you only saying that because of Team Skull?"

"…I guess." I admitted.

"First off, screw them, they're only saying this to you to upset you.

"Secondly, for someone your age, you've done pretty well, especially on their, like what? First week? Month? Of your apprenticeship. We arrested an outlaw, YOU saved the life of a spoink, and we explored places people— pokémon can only dream of going to." He pointed out. "Surely you're not going to give up now because a few horse's so-and-so told you to, right?"

"Yeah you're right!" I exclaimed a bit too loud, luckily nobody heard. "And now that I think about it, I remember why I joined in the Guild in the first place." I opened the top part of my draw, (right above the one where I kept my accomplished bulletin board missions), and showed John something I kept for a very long time.

"It's a, erm… missing poster with a female luxray on it." John mentioned.

"Well I don't think it's any luxray. Remember when I told you how I got here?"

"You were dropped off in a basket at the front door of the Guild when you were a cub, correct?"

"A-ha." I answered. "Take a look at the location the pokémon was last known to be at."

"Amp Plains."

"Correct." I responded. "Amp Plains is a common place for electric type pokémon to inhabit, more importantly luxray families." I explained. "And this can't be any coincidence, either. She was reported missing three days after my drop off. I know this sounds crazy… But I think she might be my mother…"

"I wouldn't call it crazy, I mean it does have some deductive reasoning to it, it's also worth mentioning that the child will always share the same evolution line as their mother. Any hints towards who your father might be?"

"No, not yet…" I answered. Although it was nice getting some emotions off my chest, my hunger still kicked in. "…I'm so hungry, I don't think I'd be able to sleep through the night."

"Hold on." John said as he got two seeds out of the green sack attached to his tracksuit bottoms, that he left folded on a drawer. "It's not much but hopefully it'll help." He handed over a sleep seed which I gladly took from him.

"I just hope this will all get better…" I muttered to myself

"All I can say is, I and the majority of the guild are on your side Shinx. They're protective of you, and I believe they'll try their best to make sure the worst doesn't happen to you." John assured, I tried to reply, but the sleep seed I already swallowed put me in a deep slumber.

* * *

Due to there being no spare room left to hold Team Skull, Gulidmaster Wigglytuff reserved them an empty tipi that was provided by the folks of Treasure Town. Being that the entrance was sealed, no light entered, however in the darkness the trio still began a discussion.

"But Chief... Why'd you bother helping out that sissy?" Zubat inquired. "Like giving that perfect apple right then... We should've watched what'd happen to them after. That would've been hilarious."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly." Koffing added in agreement.

"Chaw-haw-haw! You're not thinking strategically, you two." Skuntank responded. "Why'd we come here in the first place? The expedition, right?

"Right now, the trick is for us to win over the trust of Wigglytuff."

"I get it now..." Koffing said.

"But... This being a famous guild and all, I was playing it cautiously at first, but it's been ridiculously easy." Skuntank informed. "Wigglytuff's been nothing more than a big baby. He's no big deal. Why everyone's so terrified of him, I don't know. I'm clueless."

"Anyway, if we find treasure while on the expedition..."

"We knock out the guild's crew" Koffing posited.

"Then we snatch the treasure and skedaddle on out!" Zubat added.

"Whoa-ho-ho!" Koffing laughed. "This plan is a sure thing."

"Heh-heh!"

"Chaw-haw-haw!"

* * *

Chilly breezes accompanied by a dim and spacious atmosphere, flooded my surroundings. The flooring was hard like stone, oddly enough, I could feel this strange tingling from the hard surface, it was almost like really tiny jolts of electricity. A dreadful feeling of isolation struck me, as far as I could tell, nobody was in sight. The only source of light I I could detect were that of... Glowing, blue rocks...? Out of curiosity, I decided to inspect the rocks, but my body refused to move, it felt significantly weak, especially in my legs, but from what I could see, blue electricity enveloped them.

I had no clue where I was, yet at the same time, I couldn't help but get a strong feeling of deja-vu... Thunder was roaring outside, starting quiet and then ending with an explosive clap... I had to get out of here- Despite not knowing where I am, I had this deep feeling, something bad's going to happen.

All my effort went to moving my legs, it was like invisible, chainballs were attached to my legs, but I still forced myself to move, each footstep became progressively heavier, and heavier, not even my sudden sense of fear could get me going- as much as I want to escape, my body gave in and sat down like a stone!

I couldn't help but feel like something was getting closer and closer... The thunder outside clashed without mercy, much louder than they were moments before. As soon as it came to a stop, the series of growls and snarls filled the area, and it didn't come from just one individual! This was a better time than ever to run back into a cave, but like before, I couldn't move! No matter how much I told my body otherwise! The thunder became even louder, this time, I even saw a flash of lightning... And another... and another... And once again, it stopped...

It became eerily quiet, chills travelled down my spine to the point of involuntary shivering as my anxiety increased in twofold! I was greeted by several faces consisting of fierce, malevolent eyes, with wide mouths and sharp fangs! Before I could react any further, they all lurched towards, me all a once!

* * *

"Psst. Wake up."

Speckles of colour impeded my vision as I was woken up by Sunflora, with Loudred, Bidoof and Chimecho accompanying her. And I'm guessing by the time of day as well as the fact Loudred didn't wake me up by shouting that this isn't a duty thing.

As I looked to my left, I saw Shinx fidgeting and squirming, almost as if he was suffering from a nightmare. While Bidoof and Chimecho were contemplating on how to wake him up, Loudred nudged him repeatedly to the point of pushing. However he stopped as soon as he noticed the fidgeting had worsened. Eventually his body sprang up and would've let out a giant scream, had he not quickly recollected where he currently is in reality.

"What are you guys doing here?" Shinx inquired.

Bidoof was the first to explain "Well... We noticed you and John were unfairly punished for not bringing back perfect apples, ya' see. So we decided, that we left over some of our food for ya'."

"We got lucky that neither Chatot or Wigglytuff noticed we had our bags with us." Chimecho added. As they mentioned holding bags, they emptied out the contents, a few apples, cold toast and berries. Wasn't much, but it's certainly better than nothing. We gratefully accepted the food that was given to us, the sweet taste of the fruits juices and crusty texture of the toast combined with melted butter sent out an explosion of taste in my tongue.

"Thanks guys." Shinx said as tiny tears trickled down his eyes. "I'm so glad to have friends like you."

"We can all use help when we're down." Sunflora said.

"Every one of us needs to be able to work hard in order to be picked for the expedition. Yup, yup!" Bidoof added.

"I don't know... We're gonna some kind of miracle after what happened this afternoon." Shinx mentioned, probably less pessimistic than it sounded.

"Are you sure about that?" I piped in.

"What do you mean?" He asked

"I don't mean to gloat. But haven't you recalled who was the one that foresaw a time gear being stolen?" I inquired.

"Umm... Xatu?" Chimecho guessed.

"What? No er- oh..." At that moment, I realised I made a major mistake. I wasn't meant to inform the guild members about my vision "Oh, heck with it! Does anyone else remember a few days back at the Mess Hall, when I had that massive blank out?"

Loudred, who hadn't opened his mouth, in fear of letting loose the midnight equivalent of a widespread alarm clock finally spoke. "Who couldn't?" The tone was surprisingly quiet by his standards.

"That wasn't a blank out, it was a vision. And I've had my fair share of them to boot." I explained all of the experiences I had, starting from my encounter with Drowzee and ending with the most recent one, that had so coincidentally happened when everyone was at the Mess Hall.

"Wha-" Chimecho, Bidoof, and Sunflora, almost yelled out, before being ironically shushed by Loudred.

"And don't bother asking about it." I added. "I haven't figured out how it fully works yet. They just happen.

"And another thing. Shinx has been telling me one of you told the residents of Treasure Town, I am, or at least was a human." I informed. "I don't care who was the one that said it, but the whole 'visions' thing. Nobody else aside from Me, Shinx, Chatot, Wigglytuff, Torkoal and you guys know about them, and I want it to stay that way until I tell someone about them otherwise. You got that?"

They all replied with 'yes', except Loudred, he just nodded his head.

"Anyway, thanks for the food and all, but it's late and we should all get to bed." I advised. The guild members agreed without question, and headed to their rooms, after they left, Shinx and I went to bed ourselves.

* * *

"UP AN' AT THEM! IT'S MORNING!"

The morning briefing was attended as usual, the guild chanting the same 'RUN AWAY AND PAY' and 'SMILES GO FOR SMILES'. Boy does it never get old! But eh, I've slowly forced myself into doing it, at least they aren't making us a choir in a public area... yet...

"Ahem. One last item..." Chatot declared. "...Tomorrow, we plan to announce the chosen members of the expedition party."

The guild members wowed in glee.

"By golly, the members are finally, gonna be picked!" Bidoof cheered.

"Oh my gosh!" Sunflora exclaimed. "It will be so much fun!"

Yet what I just noticed is Chimecho's not present within the assembly. Where is she?

"...Meaning that this is your last day to make a good impression." Chatot continued. "Work hard and impress us if you want to be chosen.

"All right everyone. Let's get down to work as usual."

A hooray, much louder than ever before, boomed out the mouths of the guild members, as the assembly was dismissed.

"Ah, you two." Chatot called over. "Your assignments today are to take care of listed jobs. We're counting on you." He said. "There's one other thing I must address. It's about the expedition." _'Oh boy, this'll be fun to hear.'_ "You should give up being chosen as expedition members." So much for saying 'We're counting on you', earlier.

"Huh?! Wh-why?!" Shinx questioned.

"Your failure yesterday weighs heavily. As you know, it is difficult to tell what our guildmaster is thinking from his demeanour... But there's no he must be seething with anger inside." He explained. "It's unlikely that he would bother to choose you for the expedition. So when the time comes to announce the members, don't get your hopes up." _'Pfft, aren't we acknowledging the reason this expedition's being planned in the first place?'_ "That is all." He said casually, as he headed up to the second floor.

"So much for encouragement, aye." I remarked to Shinx.

"Are you not concerned in the slightest?"

"Nope" I replied. "Even if we're the only two not picked for the expedition, we have the guild all to ourselves." I let out a menacing laugh to which made Shinx a tad confused. "Anyway, if we _want_ to get picked for the expedition, we better do something big, like prevent world hunger or something." I said as we climbed the ladder to the second floor. The two bulletin boards were bombarded by guild members, leaving little to no gaps between them.

The only exception to this was Sunflora, who had seemingly planned all her jobs ahead. "John! Shinx!" She shouted as we turned to her attention, with worry in her voice. "Oh my gosh! I was meant to go to Labyrinth Cave with Chimecho to get a gabite scale for Ursaring's sick brother, but she got sick too!" She explained. "Everyone else is busy, so I could really use your help."

"Sure, why not?" I replied. "This is just the thing we need after that 'Perfect Apple Fiasco'."

"Just let me get ready, and we'll be on our way out."

* * *

The three of us stood at the Kecleon brothers's market, as Sunflora took into deep consideration on which items she should buy. It was between a special band, a held item which boosts your special attack, or a defence band, for obviously raising defence, or the joy ribbon, which let you gain small amounts of EXP for every time you would take damage... Hold on.

Since Sunflora wanted time, to think on what to buy, she let me take her place so I could have my turn.

"Do you have an item that prevents the user from falling asleep?"

"There are three items that can do that." The green kecleon informed. "Chesto berries, heal seeds, or an insomniscope." I already knew about Chesto berries and heal seeds, and unless I manage to eat them, or slip them under my tongue before the effects of my enemies sleeping move kicked, they wouldn't do much. But however...

"Tell me more about these isomniscopes." I requested. This is just the item I need if Shinx and I get approached by the likes of Skuntank again.

"Sure will!" The green Kecleon replied cheerfully. "They're special glasses that prevent the holder from falling asleep."

"Just remember to not have them on all the time." The purple Kecleon advised, as he connected his sentence with his fellow brother. "Or you might actually get insomnia."

"Unfortunately for you, we don't have them in stocks." The green kecleon informed. "But we'll be sure to get you some, as your request."

"Yeah, I'll like that. Thanks." I told him.

"What do you think I should pick?" Sunflora asked.

"Huh?"

"What item should I pick? Should I buy a special band or..."

"Well, since you're a sunflora, your greatest stat lies within your special attack. That's if you wanted to take the offensive route at least."

"You know what I will!" Sunflora chimed. I may as well say this now for exposition purposes, but from what I was told at the guild you can't wear two items of the same clothing or they won't work. Apparently, the two items just get disorientated and don't let the effects kick in.

"Thank-you, Sunflora!" The green Kecleon said as Sunflora paid for the special scarf. "We value your patronage!" the scarf was made out of a thin layer of lilac cotton, it was worn much like a bandanna, and had an emblem of three white ripples.

"Well, we can't go to Labyrinth cave without the best of gear!" Sunflora noted. "You know what, I'll also buy the defence scarf, too." She said, as she traded it for more money. The band (once again) looked more like a bandanna as well. This one was white with black polka dots printed on it.

"I thought you said you weren't going to buy it." I said to Sunflora.

"Oh, no. This isn't for me. The gabite at the end of Labyrinth cave is very strong, and I noticed you two aren't wearing a neck item."

"Give it to Shinx." I recommended. "Against this gabite, he's going to need it the most due to the type disadvantage."

Shinx gladly accepted the bandanna as sunflora helped tie it to his neck. I noticed he started to smile a bit more, probably because of the generosity from the other guild members... But as Shinx was smiling with teeth and all, I could've sworn I saw a tiny orange flare materialise around one of his fangs. Was it my imagination?

"Who are those squirts?" Shinx and I turned around and noticed a scyther, sandslash and zangoose (the latter of which looked like the leader) behind, us on the opposing side of the pathway. From the voice's direction, it looked like the syyther was the one that spoke.

"Squirts?" I questioned. "Looks to me like nobody has heard of whispering. And to answer your question: we're Team Tempest; the team that'll turn the tides to your disfavour." Not much of a slogan, but now that I've said it, it's more or less staying. "Except her." I said pointing to Sunflora. "She's not a registered member of our team."

"I'm not?"

"You're Team Tempest?" The Zangoose questioned. "Don't seem that special to me. All I see are a couple of rookies. You think you can really handle Labyrinth Cave?"

"Careful there, mate. Underestimating your enemy can lead to humiliating defeats." I warned him. "I'm confident that we can handle Labyrinth Cave AND the gabite that lives there, without any trouble." While it did come down as admittedly cocky (which frankly isn't my style), it's mostly an act to look tough in front of these guys.

As my new founded friend and I had our discussion, Shinx repeatedly nudged me on the leg with his front paw.

"Don't get yourself involved in fights." Shinx said to me underneath his teeth.

"Your friend's right." The zangoose said. "Besides, Teddiursa's sick. And we won't let him be disappointed about somebody else's failure."

"Neither will we." I responded, still keeping the snarky facade.

"I think we've wasted enough time. That's something you would want to avoid as an exploration team." And as soon as he said that, the trio left.

"Do you even know who those pokémon were?" Shinx inquired.

"No, but you're going to tell me they're a team that's not to be messed" I replied. "And despite how arrogant I sounded, I only said those things so I- we wouldn't come as weak. And _that_ makes you easy targets."

"Yeah, but you're pretty much asking for a fight." Shinx argued.

"Yes, but I probably would've lost regardless. At least if you pretend to be strong, there's the off chance you could intimidate them, or at the very least not make them as confident as they would be IF you'd initially come as weak." I countered. "Anyway, like Kratos the Weasel said. We're wasting time, so we better get going." Sunflora and Shinx both looked at each other confused by my joke... I guess I'll have to find a new way to make jokes that don't relate to non-existent stuff (in this dimension at least).

"Just be careful, okay?" Shinx advised. "We can't blow this chance on being chosen for the expedition. Same for Chimecho, she's relying on us."

* * *

The entrance of Labyrinth Cave was ginormous in size, with purplish-blue, crystals emerged from the cave. I wondered why nobody tried to dig some out, to which I asked Sunflora and Shinx exactly that. Apparently, they're stuck so firm into the cave, that even a tyranitar would struggle, to pull it out.

"Stick to the plan John." Shinx commanded. as we entered the cave. And i was starting to think **I** was the leader.

The interior of Labyrinth Cave was spacious with rock pillars and flooring of light blue that let in and absorb light. Didn't feel much like a labyrinth if I say so myself.

"That's odd..." Shinx muttered to himself. "Even though there's only one entrance. I can see three red dots travelling the opposite side." He noted as he inspected the mini map on the x-ray specs.

"And...?" I inquired.

"I think they're Team Razor Wind." That must be the name of the zangoose's team. "I know this because Wild pokémon don't normally travel in three."

"Don't you remember what Chatot told you about Mystery Dungeons?" Sunflora inquired.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Nobody told me about 'Mystery Dungeons'."

"Well... Mystery Dungeons are rather odd." Shinx informed. "Most of them have layouts that can change within days."

"Some of them can also put a team in a different part of the dungeon, even if you take the same entrance." Sunflora added

"And assuming what Shinx said about this Razor Wind team is true, we must be in the latter." I noted.

"Could be." Sunflora responded.

It was my turn to use the x-ray specs, and to my surprise I noticed something odd about it. "What's that purple dot in the middle?" I asked Sunflora and Shinx. "The way it's indicated makes me think it's the gabite at the end of the dungeon." Since x-ray specs only show items and enemies and parts of the map you've already been, it was mostly just blankness.

"That's a Boss Pokémon." Shinx informed. "They are the strongest in the dungeon, and usually wait for opponents at the depths."

With that in mind, we proceeded. As our pathway took us away from a spacious and mystifying atmosphere, we came across the likes of what would make one feel claustrophobic we had to let one another through from how narrow it was. The pathway was much more narrow, much like a maze, or better yet, a labyrinth.

As I took closer inspection at the x-ray specs I also noticed that groups of four or three red dots were in various places... Even in front of us where the corridor would theoretically be on the mini map, red dots were grouped on the left and right.

"Shinx, you mind using that x-ray vision of yours?" I asked him.

"Don't mind at all." he replied. Of course I'd let him swap positions with me (as I was in the front), but due to the narrowness, it was difficult to do so.

"Stay to the left." I told him.

"I'm trying!" He responded. "You go to the right!"

The only way for him to get through was if he went over me. I ordered him to do exactly that, as I knelled down, with my paws out and put together. He climbed over without fail.

"Okay, now we got that over with... You see any skeletons or figures through that x-ray vision of yours?"

"There are several Golbat hiding in the holes in the walls." Shinx quietly informed. "They must be waiting for us to pass by."

"Get ready to use Shock Wave." I told Shinx, as he amplified the power of his electric moves with the move, Charge. "You too, Sunflora. Just because I use this warp seed, doesn't mean I'll get rid of all of them; so just use whatever you have" _'Let's just hope this time they actually end up in a different room.'_ In the green sack attached to my waist, I threw the seed. As it landed on the ground, it released a cloud of smoke. Judging from the fact some enemy dots have ended up on a different part of the map, the seed worked (for the most part).

Emerged out of their hiding spot... Too bad they didn't put their type disadvantage in consideration. A blinding flash of electricity briefly illuminated the entire room, as soon as the light dulled down, the golbats were quick to faint.

* * *

Like any typical maze/labyrinth, this took a lot of trial and error, if it wasn't for the x-ray specs, we'd be going in circles. Being met with another dead end, I decided to conjure up a conversation.

"So... You and Chatot spoke about this inter-dimensional studies thingy. How do you know all the stuff you do, without any means of dimensional travel? Does Giratina just go on dimensional field-trips and discuss them in class or something?"

"Actually... We don't really know." Sunflora answered.

"You don't?" I questioned again.

"Chatot said it was all in a book... I think. We also don't know who actually wrote it." Sunflora once again answered. "Some of us thought it was just random nonsense a child came up with."

"Yeah," Shinx added. "That was when we saw these strange objects magically appear, like the mattresses for example."

"How would you know it was called a mattress?" I questioned.

"The book." Shinx responded. "They mentioned all kinds of weird stuff in there." Strange... Could this anomaly also be the reason Sunflora and Chimecho found those clothes? Must be. After all they probably wouldn't want to know where leather comes from.

"But, we shouldn't be talking about that now." Shinx dismissed. "A pokémon can attack us if we're not careful."

"Relax." I assured. "These pokémon are no big deal. I know you had the type advantage against those golbats and all, but they went down Wa-aaay too easily. Also, it's my job to tell you all to be careful."

...Then again those golbats had to be at least level twenty or so." (more or less the level needed for zubat to evolve into golbat.) "And we don't know what else is here. So yeah, you're right." Little did I actually know, the pokémon in this dungeon were severely under-leveled, So i guess there isn't much they can do to be a threat.

Speaking of what might be on this very labyrinth: the fin on my head detected motion, alongside two red dots on the x-ray specs being displayed. Due to Shinx being in front of me, I jumped up and fired two Water Pulses. As they hit their targets I noticed they were two nidorinos, only one of them got knocked out, however. The other nidorino hid behind his ally when he saw my attack.

"Don't directly attack them." I told Shinx. "Their poison point ability will poison any foe that comes into contact with them." (unless if said foe was a steel or poison type OR had the immunity ability).

"But don't we have pecha berries, though?" Shinx questioned, to which I ignored, as I let loose another water pulse to knock out the enemy.

"Yes, but it doesn't mean we should deliberately get ourselves poisoned." I told him. "As far as I can tell, this dungeon's probably got a bunch of poison types in here. And it doesn't matter in the slightest if they're as weak as wet paper, they poison us once and we don't have any pecha berries, then we're we as good as-"

"Watch out!" Somehow the nidorino got up on its feet and came ramming up at me with its horn pointed towards me! With little to react, all I could do was shield myself from the attack, but as I did, I noticed a bowl of green energy surround me, during this brief time, I was left invulnerable. Shinx took advantage of this and used Shock Wave on the nidorino. Gotta remind myself to keep my statements at twenty words or less...

"Erm... Protect ex-machina?" I jokingly commented.

This time I made sure it was down. No more tricks this time. Although I could've sworn it had already fainted. I used Waterfall to leap over the nidorino (good thing these crevices actually have some height to them), not wanting to risk stepping on it and get poisoned. Shinx and Sunflora pretty much done the same and jumped over it.

"Wait a second... This nidorino is holding something" Sunflora told us, we waited for her to pick it up and show us.

"Anything useful?" I inquired.

"...No, it's just a plain seed." She replied. "Although... I think it was a reviver seed. Once you faint faint, the seed somehow releases a scent that restores a fainted pokémon's HP and hunger, after that it becomes a plain seed." Being that the seed was more less useless, Sunflora just simply ate it as it was.

* * *

One last lane... Or at least it seemed to be. We're very close to the centre of the maze as we patiently covered a portion of what could've potentially been, well... The pathway to the centre. There were three alternative paths.

"Hmm..."

"What?" Shinx inquired.

"I'm thinking if three of us should spilt up and take the three paths given to us, but frankly splitting up individually could be one of the worst things you could do in this place." I stated. "You still have those rollcall orbs?"

"Yep!" Shinx replied.

"And the communic orbs?"

"Got both of them right here." He said, as he gave me one.

"What about you Sunflora?"

"I have one too!"

"Good." I responded. "Now, here's the plan: you two take two of three of the paths while I sit here and communicate with both of you-"

"You mean you're just gonna stay here?" Shinx questioned. "What will that achieve?"

"Haven't finished." I told him. "I hold this rollcall orb in case one of you get in a dire situation. By what I'm told about this orb it'll warp both of you here. The plan's a tad arbitrary, I admit, But hey, it helps cover more ground... I guess? Still, what do you think of it?

Shinx and Sunflora both faced each other and nodded in agreement.

"Okay, let's do it!" Shinx proclaimed.

* * *

Sunflora took the left lane, while I took the right. I kept the communic orb firm in my teeth if the team needed to contact me. It was just as much as a task of not crushing the orb as it was to not get lost.

John said he'd grab hold of the x-ray specs, he said if one of us would get lost, he'd use it to tell us which direction to take.

* * *

Oh, my gosh! Travelling alone always makes me nervous! But, I got teammates relying on me, I can't let them down.

It's a good thing I bring chalk with me, without it, I couldn't imagine what would happen. Just the thought of it, already brings shivers down my spine! -Anyway! I scraped the chalk against the wall, drawing white lines for me to follow.

My communic-orb glowed, as a voice came out of it.

"What's the status? Over!"

"We only just separated." Shinx replied.

"Yes, but it's better we communicate as soon as possible." I told him. "For all we know one of you could've landed on a trap or have been ambushed. Both of which happened at Waterfall Cave mind you."

"All fine here, nothing to report!" Sunflora confirmed. "Over!"

"Same here. Over!" Shinx responded.

* * *

I sat to myself, on the dungeon's floor, no motion was detected on my head fin, so why bother getting up. Both Shinx and Sunflora made frequent updates whenever something happened, mostly just them getting in fights with wild pokémon, who for the most part were easily handled. Sunflora had a little trouble fighting some golbats and Shinx got poisoned (having to use a pecha berry to heal) , but that didn't really give them any hindrance. I noted that outside of being poisoned nothing here posed a true threat, considering Sunflora single-handedly beat a group of golbats which should've easily beaten her given their massive type advantage. Let's just see how much of a challenge this 'boss pokémon' is.

I began questioning how long the three of us were in here for. The Labyrinth has had us going left, right, backwards, forward, it could be night time for all we know, hard to tell from this cave obscuring all of the sky.

Blurriness occurred in my eyes, I knew that a vision was coming, so why fight it?

My subconscious seemed to take me to a different section of Labyrinth Cave, just as big as the part I was in. I looked for some kind of hint to what this vision was telling, but as soon as I caught a hazy figure... Light blue by the looks of it, with bits of black... It's Shinx. No doubt.

The figure fully enhanced once I recognised it, but why here of all places? And what does Shinx have to do with it?

I went ahead of him and noticed an elongated platform that was thin in length, but thick in width. It connected to separate sides of what would've been a trench; much like a bridge. Due to my intangibility, Shinx went right through me, and stepped foot on the bridge. Various sounds were heard throughout the cave, mostly golbat cries and sounds of demolition... Yet it seemed too far away to be related to this, surely...

Shinx himself picked up on the sounds too, he started to look more cautious, though he still proceeded. I followed his steps, as I tried to figure out what it is I'm meant to see.

...Despite how stable this stone bridge looks, something about it didn't seem right, it could be acrophobia talking for all I know, but it feels as if this bridge got weaker for every step I took. I looked down on the platform, and saw no cracks of any sort... ' _Maybe, I'm not looking hard enough'_ Is what I kept thinking, but none of these visions of mine have been particularly subtle. Maybe I just have to wait...

I decided to keep my eyes on Shinx. He seemed to be taking steps as if he was on thin ice... And that's where I saw cracks on the bridge! Although I couldn't see his face the fact he clenched his whole body, indicated he was in a lot of fear! A violent tremor occurred, as the cracks soon opened up and reduced the bridge to rubble! I wanted to scream Shinx's name, but no voice came out...

As my senses came back to reality, my head fin detected motion that was right up to my face! A machop was using their hands to gently steal from my bag. I looked at their direction, and threw a punch at them, only for the fighting type pokémon to block it and jab me in the face! My feet were quickly taken off the floor by a Low Sweep attack, I accidentally dropped the communic-orb as a result. The machop saw this, and threw it as far away from my vicinity as possible, a shattering sound indicated its landing.

Beams of light summoned several more machop, six to be exact. Knowing instantly what orb they used, I immediately got back on my feet and checked my bag for the rollcall orb, only to discover it was missing. In partial frustration, I fired a Water Pulse at the machop who used my rollcall orb, it dodged by performing a back flip and distanced itself from me.

A red aura enveloped the surrounding machops, I immediately knew they were using Focus Energy to raise their critical hit ratio. I better be careful, it's likely that they all know Karate Chop, a move that already has a high critical hit ratio to begin with.

They came charging at me all at once, aiming their chop attacks, as I predicted. I used Waterfall to propel myself off the ground. While airborne I threw a totter seed and fired a Water Pulse from two different sides. Both exploded upon impact; the seed let loose an incapacitating ringing sound that confused one of the machops, the water pulse instantly knocked a machop out on contact, in addition to the splash damage landing on two others.

One down, one confused. I used Waterfall to bounce myself off the ground again, this time in a backwards fashion and firing another Water Pulse, the machop horde read my next attack, and dodged accordingly. The machop who started the whole fight, stood on and leaped off the shoulders of their ally and grabbed me by the leg! Without communicating with the nearby machops, they knew exactly what to do; another machop copied their teammate, and brought me down on the terrain!

I attempted to get back on my feet, only to get attacked by a parry of attacks left and right, jabs to the face in particular made it difficult to fight back! I fired Water Pulses as frantically as I could, but they never met their target! Both my legs and arms were restrained by the machop's feet, limiting my movement. But that's where I found my escape route. Ignoring the constant pain and flurry from the attackers, I let loose a Water Gun attack on leg that trod on my left arm. The force caused the pokémon to trip up, freeing my arm in the progress, I repeated my method of attack, this time freeing my right arm. A machop from behind aimed a karate chop at my head, I blocked it with both of my paws, they were covered with a white aura that helped crush the attackers hand as he shrieked in pain, forcing him to let go and get knocked out by the confused machop that was seemingly aiming for me.

The machops picked up on my escape strategy, before they could restrain me once more, I took out the machop that went for my left arm with a Water Pulse, as well as the one standing on my left leg. At that point I was able to push my body back, and trip up the machop in position of my right leg. I was the first to get back on my feet, once the opposing machop stood back up, it aimed a punch from its right arm, that I successfully blocked with my left hand. I then hooked the fighting type, with a hydraulic punch, that caused major knockback, and sent the machop back on the craggy terrain.

One left, and that was just the machop left in a confused status. A casual pass-by and one push of a waterfall attack was enough to knock it down. Now... Better get to Shinx before it's too late.

* * *

This has been the third time in a row that I used the communic-orb to call John, and still no response. Truthfully the only reason I did call for John was because I'm met with two different paths to choose, I considered going left, but I knew John would've told me which path he wanted me to cross.

The I was holding was about to glow. "Oh my gosh! Shinx? Are you there?" Asked Sunflora in an anxious tone.

"...Yeah, why?"

"John hasn't called back from my communic-orb, I'm starting to get worried!"

"He hasn't called me back either." I told her. "What should I do? I feel like I've become lost."

"You wait there, I'll go find him myself."

"How are you going to find your way back?" I asked her.

"Don't worry, I used chalk to draw across the walls... And now that I think about it, I should've given you some..." She mentioned. "But still, I'll be the one to check on him. Over."

I was left staring at the v-shaped lanes, without John giving me instructions, I was contemplating whether or not I should take a path. I didn't want to get lost, but I didn't want to be a sitting ducklett either.

Chills ran through my spine as mild breezes coursed through the caverns, my mind recalled the previous nightmare from last night, imagining those sharp eyes and fangs attacking me in the darkness, which was present since these walls weren't crystallised like the others. John told me not to use flash, he said it'll attract more of the wild pokémon.

With nothing else to do, my ears picked up some strange noise... It sounded like somebody was smashing stone...

The noise came again, this a little louder... _'What was it?'_ I thought to myself. I heard it coming from my left, so I leaned my ear to the wall, waiting for the sound a third time... With a large bang that felt like a punch to my ear, I backed away and quickly turned on my x-ray vision. The skeletons of a scyther, sandslash and zangoose, were running from an army of golbats, as they crashed through the Labyrinth Walls! Without much thought I took the right path and sped up my movement with quick attack.

My mind was too fixated on the sound of smashed stone, and increasing number of golbat cries, so much so, I hit my face against a wall from where I was supposed to take another right! The blunt trauma kicked in, my eyes lost focus, and my mouth tasted tiny bits of blood. My legs grew shaky as the sound of golbats intensified, I tried to run, but only kept tripping over from my own adrenaline! The screeching came closer, my heart beated in rapid one-two beats. I knew that I could never run from them, so I decided to turn around and face... Nothing...?

Luckily for me, Team Razor Wind didn't take the same path, I did. To confirm this, the cries of the golbats (even though i could still here them) began to slowly quiet down. I sighed in relief, and loosened my body, so I could get rid of my concussion, and fast heart-beats. I could no longer hear the sound of walls being smashed, instead I heard the sounds of various grunts, screeches and slashes, seems like Team Razor Wind decided to finally fend off the golbats, from what I could hear, both sides were taking damage, I just hope all those golbats are down before I reach the end of this labyrinth. I began to reach light on the other side, soon enough I was in another giant room, but with a major difference. An abyss, that would've been impossible to cross, had it not been for a stone bridge that connected both paths, a long branch of wood also made it passable, but it didn't seem like the best idea for obvious reasons.

Walking on the bridge, strong breezes blew from the abyss, I didn't even want to look down. Something about it didn't feel right...

* * *

Almost there... Stitches put pressure on my stomach, as I forced myself to run with little to no breath... Almost there... My surroundings brightened, as I entered a bigger room of the labyrinth... And there he was, on the platform that held as a means to cross.

"Shinx! Stop!" I ran over to him as quickly as I could, trying not to trip on my own feet from constant goosebumps "Get off the bridge!" The ground began to tremble, knocking me off my feet, the tremors were in a fight between my sense of balance, but that didn't matter, when I used all four limbs to get closer to Shinx. He copied my movements. Knowing, that I shouldn't be directly on the bridge, I reached out my paw for Shinx to grab, as did he! We were a finger tips distance away, the tremors strengthened and put that distance as far away as possible! Cracks emerged from the bridge Shinx laid on! As I last resort, I lunched forward, as I grabbed Shinx's right paw with both of mine, right before the structure decided to collapse!

"...Hold on." I told him, with my voice restraint. Shinx's left paw grabbed onto the cliff edge, I pulled harder; much harder, using strength! Eventually I got him up, and rolled him back onto save ground, recollecting my breath, I remarked: "...And here I am, complaining about the group split up cliché in horror movies... Geez, what. A. Hypocrite."

"What is it with you and these-... Random ramblings?" Shinx questioned, as usual, I replied 'never mind'.

Sunflora arrived out of breath like us. "Oh my gosh, Shinx, John! Are you alright?! What Happened?! Why-"

"Ho- how'd you find us?" Shinx asked.

"I could sense your electric energy." Sunflora explained. "Still what happened?!" I told her the vision I had of Shinx standing on the collapsing bridge and falling down the trench, after explaining it, Sunflora tightly wrapped us both in a (rather uncomfortable) hug.

"Don't do anything like that again. How would Guildmaster and Chatot react?!"

"Yeah... Okay..." I replied awkwardly . "...Can you let go now?" She kept us held firmly, letting us go, only after a minute or so. Seeing the minimap on the x-ray specs, all we had to do now was find another way across this trench, and we're at the centre of the labyrinth.

Shinx's eyes turned to a tree-sized log of wood, that filled in the trench gap. "Looks risky, but that log's our best bet, of getting across." I told them.

"No." Sunflora quickly injected. "I'm not letting you take any more risks."

"There's probably more to it then you think." I told her. "Have you seen a single tree, or even a piece of wood in this cave?" I inquired. "Some pokémon probably place it there because they knew the stone bridge would be a trap."

"Can't imagine what happened to those who tried to cross it." Shinx said.

"Ahhha! I don't even want to think about that!" Sunflora squealed.

"Guys, focus." I commanded them. "Since I don't have my rollcall orb anymore, some machop used it, long story. Do any of you have a spare?"

"I do." Sunflora confirmed.

"Thank goodness. Should another earthquake come, or if I fall down, you must use that rollcall orb as soon as possible."

"Will do." She said.

"Good." I laid down on my front, whilst on the log, my four limbs spread apart, to get a good grip on it, I used my limbs to shimmy my way forward, the bark was rich with moss, luckily none of it was wet. My eyes were fixed primarily on my arms, it put me in a position where I'd be looking down... Needless to say, if I still had sweat glands, I'd probably make a cup's worth of it... Gross.

With my acrophobia kicking in, nothing but negative images could be made while travelling across the log. One involving the log snapping in two, another being an earthquake and Sunflora not using the orb in time... A harness could really help in this situation.

My legs grew shaky, I was closer to the end, thank Arceus. Unknown to me at the, time, Sunflora dug through her bag looking for something, as if she only just remembered she had it.

I made it to the end, as expected, I thought Sunflora and Shinx would follow after me, but Shinx in on of her arms, Sunflora travelled towards the other end as if they could fly... What?

"Oh my gosh, I just realised I had a pounce orb." Sunflora explained. "It lures you to what ever wall it's directed at."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Lost for words, I almost felt the need for cursing, but brushed it off. "Tut, doesn't matter now, let's just get this all over with."

* * *

Welp, here we are; the entrance to the gabite's chamber, a number of fainted golbats were spread across the room. One of the walls had a circle shaped hole in it, from what I could guess, Team Razor Wind used Rock Smash to make shortcuts out of the labyrinth, yet forgetting smashing creates loud noises, and nothing seemed to attract a horde of golbats more, than a loud expedition crew. Zangoose, Scyther and Sandslash were standing in front of it, battered and bruised. I walked up to them and decided to start a conversation, I could probably know a bit about this gabite, moves, strategies, e.t.c.

"You seemed to have taken a beating." I told them. "-That wasn't me being snide, I was just pointing it out."

"And?" Zangoose asked, seemingly rhetorically.

"Just thought you might know something about this Gabite." I responded. "We got enough sitrus berries for all three of you if you want to help take him on."

"In terms of advice..." Zangoose spoke. "The gabite came at us with physical moves, Dragon Claw, Slash, and I think Dual Chop, he was really quick."

"It was pretty easy to know what he was using, when he shouted it out." Sandslash added.

"Whenever we hit him, with kicks or claws, we'd get this sore feeling, his skin must've been rough." Zangoose mentioned.

"Well, that confirms he has the rough skin ability." I noted.

"Also, the gabite only challenges one team at a time." Zangoose informed. "He's already seen us, so we know he won't let all six of us fight him."

"He doesn't approve of surprises, either." Sandslash mentioned. "No items, no sneak attacks, overall, no cheating."

"Got it. Thanks." I told them.

"Don't mention it." Zangoose responded.

Before we entered the gabite's chamber, I discussed our battle strategy. "So here's the plan:" I told Shinx and Sunflora. "Each of us will serve a vital role in taking down this gabite, since he's a ground type, no electric moves will effect him, so it's important that Shinx serves his role as being a distraction."

"A distraction?" Shinx questioned.

"There isn't much you can do that would harm him. You have Quick Attack, that alone makes you faster than both of us, and most likely the gabite. You also have Flash, use it to disorientate him and lower his accuracy. And even if you get hit, that defence scarf should nullify a good fraction of the damage."

"What about me?" Sunflora inquired.

"Your species, specialise in special attack." I told her. "While I face off gabite and act as bait, alongside Shinx, you use your special attacks to hit him at a distance. Do you know Solarbeam?"

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"That's good. While you charge your Solarbeam, the gabite will be too busy fighting us. You aim your attack just right, and you could deal a massive amount of damage; maybe even knock him out in one hit, with that special band of yours. It'd be even better if you knew Sunny Day."

"I don't, sorry."

"Well, we'll just have to work with what we're given. Bare in mind this gabite has the Rough Skin ability. Any direct contact, will inflict a small amount of damage on you, so if you can, primarily stick to ranged attacks." After discussing my strategy, I asked Sunflora and Shinx if they fully understand what I want them to do, they both nodded. With that out of the way we dropped our bags at side, and entered the gabite's chamber. The oblong layout gave it the impression of a stadium or colosseum, grass grew on the surface, alongside multiple amethyst, the dragon pokémon stood above us, on a high ledge, attached to the wall, at the far end of the chamber. Several chests were scattered across the pit, from what I could assume, they seemed to be items.

"Another team to fight for one of my scales?" The gabite questioned.

"Please, we need two of your scales." Shinx begged. "Our friends back at Treasure Town have become ill, they need it."

"That kind of sob story is no concern to me." The gabite dismissed. "It's always the same with you challengers. 'Give me a scale! Give me scale!'" He whined mockingly. He jumped off the platform, securing the landing with his kegs firm and spread. "Why don't you fight for it, and prove yourself worthy." He held out his claws, poising himself for battle.

"Remember what I told you." I said to my team, using Waterfall to jump up high, while firing a Water Pulse.

The gabite dodged it, leaping upwards and preparing himself for attack. "Dragon Claw!" He shouted. Shinx took that as his cue to intercept with a Quick Attack, head first. Shinx felt the coarse skin of the gabite, as he landed his attack, he recoiled in pain. "Dual Chop!" The land shark struck Shinx, with a strike up the chin, and a second at the stomach. I retaliated with another Water Pulse. This one landed, and pushed the gabite straight to the ground, before the gabite got up, Shinx blinded him with Flash, and ran around him with Quick Attack. Meanwhile Sunflora's face glowed yellow as she charged her Solarbeam.

I knew I had to distract the gabite, Shinx did too. I jumped around with Waterfall and fired more Water Pulse, even when blinded by Flash the Gabite still managed to dodge our attacks.

"Sand Tomb!" The dragon type expelled a cluster of sand at Shinx, making contact with his body as a result. The cluster turned into a vortex, trapping Shinx in the progress! His attention turned to me.

"Dual Chop!" He aimed for my left cheek, the swing came out sloppy due to his accuracy loss. I pushed him away with a hook to the chest, using Waterfall, the attack hurt my paw, but it was worth it. "Sandstorm!" The gabite withdrew his arms from an X stance, and released what was said in the attack's name... I hate sand.

Being pelted by the storm, I found it difficult moving! My fin detected motion at the last minute, as a chop was dealt at the back of my head! The sandstorm had made it harder to see him, he must also have Sand Veil as his ability.

Using only my motion sensory, I managed to predict a Slash attack that I blocked with protect, I returned fire with Water Pulse. Whether or not it hit it's target was unclear. Although the storm gave a dusty impression, I could still see light from Sunflora's Solarbeam charging... My entire body focused on the head fin, as soon as my mudkip sense kicked in, I dodged a chop attack, swung at me vertically and another horizontally. The gabite revealed himself amongst the sandstorm.

That was my cue! I quickly grabbed both of his arms using Strength, ignoring the increasingly soar pain on my paws. As soon as I got Gabite aligned with the solar light, I pushed him forward with a Waterfall attack from both of my paws. A massive beam of solar energy struck the gabite as he cried in pain.

The sandstorm subsided, and I could clearly see the gabite, Sunflora, as well as Shinx, who looked as if he struggled to keep up with the Sandstorm and Sand Tomb combination. Although injured, the gabite still got back on his feet. The sandstorm must've weakened Solarbeam's power.

Sunflora charged another Solarbeam, the gabite ignored her in favour of attacking us first. Shinx ran round the dragon pokémon, attempting to blind him even further with more Flash attacks. The gabite attempted to shield his eyes from the light, by covering them with the fins on his arms, I jumped over the circle Shinx ran around using Waterfall, I fired a Water Pulse which successfully hit. The pressure was on! Now that I got in on the action, the gabite was forced to keep his eyes open. He threw multiple dragon claw attacks at me which I easily dodged from how hasty and unfocused they were, the key now is to get him tired. Still attempting to scratch me, he began to lean forward, leaving his vulnerable. I conjured up a bowl of water, and slammed it against the gabite's head, forcing him to the floor.

Trembling occurred throughout his entire body, from what I could guess he seemed to have a sudden adrenaline spike, which cast him in a fit of rage! This time he wasn't playing dumb, he grabbed the neck of my jumper, and slammed my entire body against the ground, face first! Shinx attempted to intervene, only to get hit by a Dual Chop attack to the head and face! I tried getting up, but my paws felt sharp pain from the pressure, looking at them now, they were bruised red!

He seemed to be grinning at something; something I didn't notice. He held the back of my collar and raised me up in front of my, as if I was a mannequin doll. Now I was facing the same glowing light, Sunflora was emitting, her face looked as if she wanted to cancel the attack, but she already stored to much energy! She immediately screamed in horror, as the beam was fired! I saw my whole life flash in an instant, as the laser attacked my entire body at full force! It burned! After the attack ended, the gabite tossed me aside and turned his attention to Sunflora.

"Attract!" He shaped his small claws into a heart shape, in the process, he created a yellow heart, and blew it at Sunflora. It circled her, until colliding into her forehead and disappearing. Her cheeks turned rosy as she tried to turn her attention away from the gabite, but found something about him too alluring.

"Oh my gosh! Now that I've had a good look at you, you're kinda cute!"

"Oh, come on! You're not even part of the same egg group for crying out loud!" I shouted. The gabite turned to me, and didn't even bother finishing me off, he seemed to be readying his next attack. Only now I noticed I could still get up! The pain in my muscles **screamed** for me to stay down, I refused. I'm not letting myself lose another battle, Chimecho and Teddiursa need me!

Shinx noticed that I got back up, I wasn't too focused on his face, but I could tell he was surprised. Neither of us needed to communicate in order to understand what we needed to do. Before the gabite could land a Dragon Claw on Sunflora, Shinx rammed him at full force with Quick Attack, catching him off-guard.

My legs in particular ached the most, even so, I brushed it off, for the sake of winning this fight. My Torrent ability activated, thanks to my low health. It's all or nothing now! The water strongly flowed within me! I positioned myself in a way athletes would, when preparing a race. I pushed the water against the floor, as hard as I could, propelling me towards the gabite! I held both my paws which also had water flowing through it! The impact sent us both flying! The gabite flew and skirted across the floor, as I flew high and simply landed hard on the floor.

Sunflora's infatuation wore off. She saw the state I was in and quickly rushed to aid. I pointed to the gabite for Shinx, he knew I wanted him to check on the boss pokémon to see if he's actually fainted.

"Oh my gosh, John! Are you alright?!"

"Chimecho owns me some cookies for doing this for her." I told her.

"What?!" Sunflora questioned, confused.

Shinx came back to us, and told us the good news. The gabite had been knocked out. We won!

Still... How on earth did I survive a full-body blow from a Solarbeam...?


	11. Great Expedition Part I: Preparations

**Chapter 11: The Great Expedition Part I:** **Preparations**

Seeing that I was injured, Shinx handed my a couple of sitrus berries from the bags that we left outside the chamber (which he now had with him). After eating them, the healing effects, starting to kick in instantaneously, my muscles felt more loose and relaxed, making it easy to get back on my two, hind feet.

Zangoose, Scyther and Sandslash rushed into the chamber. "Ready for round two?!-" Zangoose and his team halted in their steps, their jaws dropped with shock and awe. "You won?!" Zangoose questioned, clearly they didn't expect us to finish him off.

"Barely." I told him. "But yeah, we won. Just got to wait for him to get back up, so he can give us a scale... I just hope he doesn't force us into a rematch for a second one." Acknowledging the hole in the wall that we encountered earlier, I decided to ask him about it, hopefully he has a HM or TM I can borrow. "Another thing... That hole in the wall. Did you make it by using rock smash?"

"Yes." Zangoose answered. "You wanna borrow it? Seeing that you beat this gabite, you deserve it." He handed me the golden tinted disc, as I held it, electrical impulses instructed my brain on how to use the move. My paws turned white, implying I've learnt the move. Zangoose picked up a sphere of rock, and threw it upwards like a tennis ball serve, I waited for the rock to reach my level, and then punched it, as it shattered into nothing but debris and dust. With the move now learned, I gave the TM back to Zangoose.

The gabite eventually got back on his feet, the pain he felt showed, but that didn't stop him from jumping back onto the high-placed platform he was on before fighting us. He went through two chests, one contained some berries, while the other I could assume had the scales inside them. He jumped back down, and walked over to me.

"Is this what you were looking for?" The gabite asked, holding a couple of shed scales, both of them were as small as a pebble. "You said you needed two, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did." I answered while accepting the scales. "Thanks."

"You and your team sure put up a fight." The dragon pokémon complimented. " _Thank-you_ for giving me a decent battle."

I turned to Zangoose and gave him a scale. "Here, give this to Teddiursa. It only seems fair that you have this one, you did kind of help us after all."

However, he returned it back as a way of declining. "Team Razor Wind don't take credit for other pokémon's work. You've earned it." He told me, right before heading back out with his teammates.

"Now that we've got the scales, we can cure Teddiursa and Chimecho!" Shinx added.

"Our assignment was a big success!" Sunflora cheered. "Hooray for Team Tempest!" She exclaimed, while raising her badge up in the air with her leaf hand, Shinx joining in, with his paw up high, as his badge practically high-fived Sunflora's

"YEAH!" They cheered in unison... As I stood there watching... In awkwardness.

"What are you two doing?"

* * *

We were back in Treasure down, at the tipi Teddiursa was residing. His older brother, Ursaring, was standing at the entrance.

"Teddi!" The bear pokémon shouted, as he called for his younger brother. His movement and expression was lazy, likely suffering from symptoms similar to a flu. Urasring gave his brother the scale, it was eaten whole, Sunflora told me that just like the berries, the effects were instantaneous, in no less than a minute, Teddiursa went back to a healthy condition, as if he never had the illness to begin with.

"Hold on." Before we left, Teddiursa wanted us to have something of his. When he came back, he opened up his paw and gave Shinx some kind of item. "It's a shinx claw, I want you to have it." Teddiursa told him. "It doesn't work for me, since I'm a teddiursa."

After Shinx said his thanks, we made our way back to the guild.

* * *

Shinx and I stood in the second floor, having a group conversation with Bidoof, Corphish and Loudred. I listened quietly as Shinx was the one talking, from all the excitement he still had in him. "And-And even though John took damage from a Solarbeam, he still got back! How he did it, I don't know! But when I noticed he did, he practically told me to distract the gabite..." All the jabbering led him to practically suffocate, he took a deep breath, and continued where he left off. "Where was I?Oh yeah! And John landed the final hit and knocked him out cold!"

"YOU SURVIVED A SOLARBEAM?!" Loudred questioned. "JOHN, YOU GOTTA TELL US YOUR SECRET!"

"He's right yup-yup, please tell us."

"Persistence?" I responded, shrugging my shoulders.

"Is persistence an ability?" Bidoof questioned amongst the group, taking my answer to a literal sense.

"What? No it isn't." I replied. "Strangest thing is, I didn't even feel much pain when I got back up. All I can say really, without sounding over dramatic, is that I almost thought for sure I was going to die. I don't know."

Our conversation was ended by a crowing of Chatot, who was standing in the centre of the room. "Attention, guild members!" He called. "Our great expedition is firmly due tomorrow! The Guildmaster is in the progress of evaluating all of you, one at a time! He'll be a very busy pokémon, so I'd advise you to not disturb him at any costs! I too will help The Guildmaster evaluate all of you! So anything important you want to say or report must be said now!" A brief wave of silence indicated nothing needed to be said. "Another thing! I've been informed by Croagunk himself, that his Swap-Shop has officially re-opened! That is all." Chatot knocked the secret knock on Wigglytuff's door, it took a while to open (not counting the various sounds of locks being... unlocked), but Chatot was eventually let in.

This 'Swap-Shop' Chatot mentioned was on the left of the room. The shop was designed like a small market, built entirely out of stone that was shaped like the head and upper-jaw of an eyeless croagunk, uneven columns, that made the perimeter, also gave it the look of toxic bubbles. A cauldron with some kind of bubbling purple liquid, was sitting behind Croagunk, it almost looked acidic, .

"Meh-heh-heh, I see you both got the memo." Croagunk noted.

"This shop looks familiar..." Shinx said.

"This shop opened when you were a bit younger." Croagunk informed. "Meh-heh-heh, I remember when my cauldron exploded. You were so frightened, you ran straight to your room." Shinx blushed, visibly embarrassed by what Croagunk said. "My customer was furious, I had to pay him back or Wigglytuff would've gotten mad... Good times."

"Was it really that long ago?" Shinx asked himself.

"Now that I had the money for it, I fixed my cauldron. Meh-heh-heh, it's good to be back."

"So what's this swap-shop for anyway?" I asked him.

"Meh-heh-heh, good question. In this shop, I'll put these special items into my cauldron and brew you up a better one. These items are called 'exclusive items', as the name suggests they're only usable for certain pokémon."

"You mean, like a shinx claw?" Shinx asked.

"Yes. And if you get a shinx fang, I can brew both of them together to make a flash tag. Bring me a flash tag, shinx fang and claw, I can make you an energy scarf." Croagunk explained. "Meh-heh-heh, and you could do all that for just five-hundred poké, per swap.

"Another thing, you two might have heard that I'm a pokémon that knows how to get things." Croagunk added. "With a price I can get you certain items in a day."

It sounded shady, but ultimately, it's against guild policy to rip off customers, and I've been meaning to get my hands on something for quite some time... No not a poster used to hide an escape passage. Something a little more practical.

"You know how to get some black powder?" I requested. "It's for an invention I'm planning to make." Both Croagunk and Shinx looked genuinely curious to what I could truly 'invent'

"Black powder? Sure." Croagunk complied. "In return I demand five-thousand poké for five litres of it."

"Deal." I agreed, as I handed him the appropriate amount of money.

"Meh-heh-heh. Pleasure doing business with you."

Before dinner was about to start, Chatot had exited the Guildmaster's Chamber, clearly the meeting ended quicker than he thought it would be. He lured our attention in with a signature bird call of his, and then spoke. "Attention guild members!" He commanded. "The Guildmaster has come to a final conclusion on who _should_ and _should not_ attend the expedition. Whoever is verified to go on the expedition is classified, even for me! With that in mind, we should have our dinner and bedtimes earlier than usual. No slacking or stalling in the morning!"

I turned back to Croagunk. "How are you going to get the powder before today."

"Meh-heh-heh, I have my methods." He alleged, his eyes pointing at the vine that led down to the sentry duty area.

* * *

It was nearing midnight on the second floor, Croagunk, the only one present in the room, leaning back and crossing his legs on his newly placed hammock, pretending to sleep as he waited for the supposed time he'd think everyone would be in a deep slumber.

"Meh-heh-heh, my favourite time of day." The toad pokémon said to himself. He sat himself up and off the hammock, slinging on his explorer bag by the shoulder and carrying an empty five litre barrel, behind his swap-shop, and rolled it near the hole that led to the sentry duty area. He checked below for a mattress that would assure the barrel's cushioned and quiet landing. He knew he could never exit from the main entrance. The exit door was locked, and even if it wasn't, it's Chatot's sleeping area, and Croagunk knew he of all pokémon probably wouldn't be a deep sleeper, and certainly somebody you wouldn't want to wake up.

The toad pokémon pushed the barrel down the hole, a quiet thump indicated it successfully landed on a mattress, Croagunk climbed down the ivy, making his way to the sentry duty room. In front of him was a straight path, walking up to the end of it, dragging the mattress with him, he looked up and saw the grate that was used for identifying a pokémon's footprint. Caged in front of Croagunk would be a perfect view of multiple, crystallised stars. The poison type's smile widened as he admired the obscured night's sky.

In his explorer bag, he pulled out an entirely metal screwdriver, an otherwise common tool that was invented in this world when a craftsman (or crafts'mon'?), analysed a magnemite's rotating screws. The toad pokémon held the screwdriver in his mouth, his knees were bent, as he prepared himself to reach the top.

The distance between Croagunk and the grate was around five stories high. That didn't seem like a problem for him, as he used Bounce to spring his whole body up like a rocket. His hands were in reach of the grate, and grabbed them immediately. climbing to his left side, he got to work, using the screwdriver in his free hand to unfasten two bolts that were fixed to two corners, as the hatch grew loose, it gave in to Croagunk's weight, hanging on its right. Letting go off the grate, his fall was broke by the mattress he laid down.

Going back for the barrel, he held it in a koala hold, and returned to the night view from below.

"Meh-heh-heh, I'm coming." He told the sky. Using Bounce once more, he sprung up, as his surroundings changed from an enclosure of dirt, rock and ivy to a perfect, blue midnight sky. That however, paled in comparison to the moon in its full form that floated above the horizon, Croagunk admired it in infatuation.

"Meh-heh-heh, hello beautiful." Everything Croagunk witnessed was in perfect serenity... Or it would've, had it not been for a foul stench that crept up his nose. From the smell alone, Croagunk didn't even have to look to know who he was.

"Chaw-haw-haw, I see someone else has used this hatch for sneaking too." Skuntank and his two lackeys stood amongst the outskirts of Wigglytuff's guild, seemingly fascinated by the totem poles that had faces of many pokémon painted on them.

The toad pokémon now faced the toxic trio. "Meh-heh-heh, I had a strong feeling you three were behind the Mess Hall scheme."

"Chaw-haw-haw, guilty as charged, needless to say however, you'd never tell on us."

"Meh-heh-heh, you're right..." From what it looked like, Croagunk couldn't have a care in the world _they_ done it, only _knowing_ they done it, which stemmed from his apparent nosy behaviour. "...Still, getting the kids blamed for not getting the apples, now that's low." No anger came from the statement, it merely seemed passive-aggressive, or at least it did to Team Skull.

"Whoa-ho-ho, an' what'cha gonna do 'bout it?" Koffing inquired, boastfully.

"Nothing." Croagunk admitted. "I'm just letting you guys know you're on much thinner ice than you think." Zubat and Koffing's faces displayed mild discomfort from what Croagunk said, not Skuntank though, he just smiled slightly.

"Chaw-haw-haw, and here I am, hoping we'd get a new recruit." Skuntank remarked.

"Meh-heh-heh, you serious?"

"Chaw-haw-haw, couldn't be more serious." Skuntank stated. "You clearly fit our theme in every category, _and_ you're good with items."

"Meh-heh-heh, not every category." Croagunk remarked with a vague tone. Saying nothing else, he calmly turned away walked down the stone stairs, barrel in arms, as if he never saw them.

The torches aided Croagunk down the stairs as they served their purpose. The cries of hoothoots and noctowls were music to Croagunk's canals, not even worried about the risk of him falling down with the barrel occupying his full hands.

As he neared the bottom, Croagunk could detect a gurdurr waving with the arm that wasn't holding a... girder. Accompanying the pokémon were two timburrs and three tynamo. The gurdurr slung his arm around the back of Croagunk as a friendly gesture.

"Well if it isn't my favourite customer." The gurdurr remarked. "It's been too long."

"Meh-heh-heh, indeed it has." Croagunk added. "You got the powder?"

"Mined it out this evening." The gurdurr confirmed, clearly Croagunk spoke to him over a communic-orb to make the request at such a late time. "It'll cost four-thousand poké as usual." He handed a portion of the money I gave him to gurdurr. "Thanks pal, my misses can sleep well tonight." after the payment was dealt with, he signalled the two timburrs to empty out the powder into the barrel. "This is precious material." The gurdurr told them. "Don't spill a grain of it." As Croagunk removed the barrel's lid, the powder was emptied carefully into the container, filling to the top in a matter of seconds, which was then securely stored by the lid.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Croagunk complimented.

"Same here." The gurdurr returned.

* * *

Shinx rolled around on his bed, struggling to sleep. The anticipation leading to the great expedition has denied him any sleep. "Are you anxious about this expedition, at all?" Shinx asked.

"Huh? No. I'm more concerned about catching a bug, more than anything else." I admitted.

"Weird." Shinx commented. "I know we'll get picked, you told me that. But ugh! This is like a one in a lifetime opportunity, and I don't want to mess it up."

"Considering our apparent 'prodigy' status, I think we'll be fine." I assured him. "Though I get what you mean..." I admitted. "Back when we fought Drowzee, I began to consider not giving this whole guild stuff a try in the first place. I mean, I know a lot about pokémon; more than I probably should if I'm being honest-"

"You're dragging on again." Shinx told me.

"Sappy monologues aside, I've been thinking that I was going to die for quite some time...

"...Still, I'm pretty sure that's what everyone at the guild thought that too. And hey, I'm unwillingly separated by everyone and everything I once loved, so what do I have to lose, right?" I asked rhetorically and jokingly. Although I wasn't looking at Shinx directly, something told me he wasn't pleased by what I said. "Anyway, I'm pooped. We should worry more about getting some sleep, than we should about what's ahead. Night."

* * *

The sun was close to rising, Shinx was already awake and ahead of me. Which more or less caused me to grudgingly force myself away from the comfort of my own bed. I changed out of my pyjamas and into my clothes.

"Why do you even wear that stuff?" Shinx questioned.

"You mean my clothes, or just my pyjamas?"

"Both." Shinx replied.

"Because, human tradition, I guess...?" I replied. "It just doesn't feel right walking around bare skinned, you know."

"Not to me it doesn't." Shinx answered, though he can't really say much about the matter anyway, since most of his body was covered by black fur.

Loudred came storming in the room. "UP AN' AT THEM, IT'S MORN-" Clearly Loudred didn't expect us (or more accurately, Shinx) to be up so soon. What can I say? Just got a big day to look forward to. "UP ALREADY?!" Loudred questioned, with a small amount of embarrassment. "Well... GOOD! KEEP IT UP!" He encouraged, leaving our room and heading to the assembly.

* * *

Like Shinx, almost all the guild members showed some sign of anxiousness. Sunflora was constantly using 'Oh my gosh!' in nearly all of her sentences, Bidoof had some signs of goosebumps by the looks of it, I'd be lying if I didn't have some myself, but as I put in my head multiple times. _'They need me for this expedition.'_

The Guildmaster and Chatot were present too. Chatot held a sheet of parchment in his wing.

"Attention Guildmembers!" Chatot called. "Held in my wing, is a memo listing the chosen members for the expedition. Should your name be spoken, please step forward!"

This was at the point where some of the guild members' goosebumps were at their maximum. Croagunk seemed pretty calm about it, Shinx of all pokémon was the most hopeful. As for myself, I was kind of in grey area of partial goosebumps and reasonable confidence.

"Oh my gosh, it's finally happening!" Sunflora squealed.

"My heart's a-pounding, by golly!" Bidoof exclaimed.

"Without further ado, I'll announce those who've been chosen." Chatot continued. "Our first member...

"...Loudred!"

Loudred jumped up with his fists held high. "Y-YES!" He exclaimed simultaneously, the shout seemed loud enough to shatter reality. He stood at the back of the room, on Wigglytuff's right. "BUT IF YOU REALLY THINK ABOUT IT, IT'S ONLY _NATURAL_ THAT I WOULD GET PICKED! WHOO-HOO" My poor, poor canals... Following Loudred's remark, a few guild members let out a sigh of annoyance.

"Next up is...

"...Corphish!"

"Hey, hey, hey! I got it!" He chanted, snipping his claws in joy. "I got picked! Hey, hey!" He joined the back, and stood beside Loudred.

"Next is..." Chatot tilted his head in mild surprise. "Oh, what's this...? Well this is a surprise! Our next member is Bidoof!"

The beaver pokémon stood there in stiff disbelief. "Really?! Really and truly?!" His entire body was shaking in excitement, it actually made me feel pretty happy for him, even with little time knowing each other. "Golly... Me?! I'm going on the expedition?!" It almost seemed he was on the verge of joyful tears.

"Is anything the matter, Bidoof?" Chatot asked, concerned. "Come on, step forward."

"Urf... I sure want to step up I truly do, but..." His squirming knew no bounds, it was like watching jelly on a wobbly table. "I'm feeling a might overwhelmed here. My legs aren't moving..."

"So be it. We'll ignore it and move on." Chatot continued. "Next, we have Sunflora and Chimecho!"

"Oh? Us too?" Chimecho questioned.

"Eeek! Oh my gosh!" Sunflora squealed, with her leafy hands cupping her cheeks. They too stepped forward and stood in front of Corphish and Loudred.

"Erm, yes... Of course there's our guest members: Trubbish, Grimer, Skuntank, Zubat and Koffing... And that is it for the expedition members..." The thoughts of disappointment struck me in the head, the moment I got my hopes up... I looked on my right to Shinx, and from his face alone I could already tell his heart sunk quicker than a rock in the ocean. Skuntank, whose team was in their own circle on the right end of the assembly gave us a smirk, which I quickly looked away from, Shinx didn't even notice, his whole world went blank.

My attention turned back to Chatot, hoping he made a mistake. All I could make out is his head tilting at the piece of parchment... It almost looked like, he had difficulty reading the hand writing...

"Erm... W-what...?" He painfully swallowed his words, clearly he didn't want to offend the Guildmaster, with... Whatever it was. "Erm... It appears there are more expedition members." It was like a drum roll was being played in my head! Shinx quickly jumped back into reality, surely he and I would be picked! Surely! "The others are... Diglett, Dugtrio... Croagunk..." His eyelids became more and more narrow. "A 'J'...?" He barely muttered. There was only one person here with that letter in their name- "Oh, John and Shinx!"

"YE-E-ES!" Every muscle in Shinx's body begged to come out! he was jumping up and down like a pogo stick from all the excitement!

I looked back at Team Skull and winked with my right eye, and holding my paw in a 'thumbs up' position... Shame I don't actually have thumbs... Nevertheless, their reaction to us being picked was priceless. Their eyes looked as if they were going to pop out with jaws that dropped to the floor.

"That is all- Wait a second! What?!" Chatot flapped his wings in sudden shock "Whaaaat?! Guildmaster! This list seems to include... every member of the guild!"

"Yep! That's right!"

Chatot faced the Guildmaster, and fluttered endlessly in panic. "Well then! It seems that the whole selection progress was meaningless! Moreover, if we were to all go we would be leaving the guild empty!" Clearly Chatot was concerned about the whole arrangement. Wigglytuff wasn't, he just smiled back. "Are you sure it will be alright to leave with nobody looking after the Guild?"

"It'll be fine. We'll lock up properly." Wigglytuff assured.

Skuntank stepped forward from his team's circle and spoke up. "Guildmaster, I also have some misgivings." He said. "Do you think perhaps we have too many members for an expedition?"

"Hmm... When a friend asks something like that, I have to wonder why..." He asked himself, with his stubby paw on his lip.

"I mean first of all, why does everyone have to go?" His fake concerns didn't seem to phase Wigglytuff one bit. I knew what he was trying to do. "What's the point in everyone participating?"

"Huh? Of course there's a point!" He answered, cheerfully. "That is... If everyone went it would be more fun!"

"What?!" Take that, gas-heads, we're going on the expedition!

"We'll be noisy and excited and having fun! I started thinking about it, and it made me excited, I couldn't sleep!" He raised his stubby arms high in celebration. "So that's how it is, everyone! We're all going on the expedition, and it will be fun, fun, fun! Let's all do our best!"

"HOORAY!" The guild members all cheered in unison for one last time.

Chatot ultimately gave in, and decided to trust the Guildmaster. "Urgh ...Well, that's settled." He acknowledged. "Fine. Let me explain the schedule...

"In four hours time, I will hold a briefing on the expedition." Chatot said "As such, each of you should get prepared to embark on the expedition." That should hopefully be enough time to craft my soon to be new invention. "When you are prepared for the journey, you should report back here. Not a minute late." He spoke that last bit as clearly as possible, from the get-go, everybody understood, which Chatot could see. "That is all. Dismissed."

Wigglytuff returned to his chamber, while Team Skull moved upstairs, Chatot was minding his own business, which left the remaining guild members to talk amongst themselves.

"Wow-wee! We're all going on the journey!" Grimer exclaimed.

"Our Guildmaster has done it again. I'm so shocked I'm tingling!" Quite, literally. Chimecho's bell could faintly be heard ringing.

Croagunk broke me away from the group conversation. "Meh-heh-heh, I got the powder as promised." It sounded _really_ shady when put out of context.

"Where is it?" I asked him.

"Meh-heh-heh. Follow me."

* * *

As Croagunk led me down the Guild's outside stairs, he began to talk. "Meh-heh-heh. I must say, since you've been here, I've never seen the kid so happy." Before asking 'who?' I instantly knew who Croagunk was talking about.

"Well, I guess you could do with a new friend once in a while."

"Yeah..." Croagunk noted. "From what Bidoof and Sunflora told me years ago, he used to cry a lot when he was younger."

"Can't blame him, really." I responded. "He is just a kid after all, and he doesn't even know who his real parents are."

"Meh-heh-heh, in a strange way, you're kinda like a big brother to him."

"We've only known each other for a few weeks at most." I told him.

"Well, Shinx always used to say how much he wanted one. Besides, some bonds just grow quickly." I nodded my head in agreement, but still. A brother figure? Best friend I could understand, but a brother?

The stairway came to an end, from that point on, Croagunk led me into the bunker that was Spinda's Cafe. The lights and music were up as usual, Spinda even waved over to us, to which I waved back. Sadly for him, I wasn't here to stay. Croagunk took a barrel without needing to ask and left, to which I quickly followed. Once both of us where on the crossroads, outside, I stopped him in his footsteps.

"Keep an eye on Team Skull." I advised him. "I-"

"Meh-heh-heh, don't worry, I know what they're planning." Croagunk told me. "We all know Team Skull are bad guys." ' _Well, except for Chatot and Wigglytuff.'_

* * *

Shinx was still standing with his fellow guild members, Croagunk was still with me, and left the barrel of black powder by his swap shop. The moment Shinx saw me, we decided to discuss what we're going to bring with us.

"So what should we take on the expedition?" He asked.

"X-ray specs are a definite." I told. "So is the communic-orb, food and water's a must or we die. Any good orbs?"

"Yeah, Corphish gave me some rollcall orbs to replace the ones we lost, I've got some escape orbs and some rainy orbs."

"Good, good." I said. "I better get those isomniscopes, maybe some chesto berries too. We're gonna need them when Team Skull turn on the guild." He nodded at that. We both knew all too well that they couldn't be trusted.

"John! Shinx! Over here!" Chimecho called over. Something was levitating behind her back, a plate carrying food of some sorts that was being held by telekinetic energy. "I wanted to say thank you, for getting that gabite scale for me, I never would've gone on this expedition, if it wasn't for you two and Sunflora."

"Well, it's what friends do, right?" I remarked.

"Yep. And I thought there wouldn't be any other way to say thank you, then some freshly baked cookies."

"Really?" I asked, excitingly. The cookies behind her back, were now revealed, a counted number of six warm, doughy cookies, seasoned with flour, inside of them were... raisins... Doggonit.

"I hope you don't mind raisins, chocolate is just not good for you."

"Nope. Don't mind at all." I replied insincerely.

"That's good. We do like to keep it healthy here in the guild." The small plate was hovering over my two paws, I grasped it in both of them, and felt the warmth coming from the china, which I placed down on the floor for both Shinx and I to eat.

"How you enjoy." She said, heading upstairs.

"Is it a bad time to mention that I hate raisins with a burning passion?" I asked Shinx.

"I love raisins." Shinx responded. Eagerly eating one them, in a matter of a few bites.

"Come on, there's a reason 'sin's' in the name." I said jokingly. "I mean look at them, they look like tiny turds."

"Just be grateful you have them." Shinx said.

"I'm just being hyperbolic." I answered defensively, as I ate one with mild discontent, although the warm, soft dough with the spice of cinnamon did help make up for it. "Y'know, if there wasn't the Devil's spawn in this, it wouldn't be half bad." I admitted

"Still miss chocolate?" Shinx inquired.

"Getting chocolate might as well be my character arc at this point." I joked.

* * *

At the Kecleon shop on Treasure Town, they were selling just what I requested. Better yet, it was a two for fifty percent off, saving Shinx and I 1.35k in poké.

When that was all over, I got the key to the gardening area from Sunflora. All three of us were at the site, with me I grabbed a ball of string, a trowel a handful of blast seeds and some hemp bags. The powder barrel was with me too, it was a lot easier to move it around thanks to Sunflora.

"Mind if we watch?" The sunflower pokémon inquired.

"Don't mind at all." I told her. All the items I needed were organised in a circle on the flooring. To start out with, I used the trowel to get a scoop of black powder. I would then empty it out in an open hemp bag, filling it almost to the top. The blast seed was next; one was all I needed, with it I tied some string to it, serving as a fuse, once tied together I planted it in the soot, all that had to be down then was to close up the hemp bag and secure it with more of the string.

"Be careful with it." I told my two observers, as they... observed it.

Looking at the short fuse, poking out of the pouch, both of them knew what my invention was all about.

"Oh my gosh, an explosive?"

"That's right." I told Sunflora. "All I need now is some matches, and I get take my new invention for a test drive."

"I have some." The flower pokémon added, handing me a small paper box of them. Sliding open the container, I noticed matches were quite different from the ones in my world. These ones were made out of pinewood and tipped with dried sulphur, while the ones in my dimension were more modern, and tipped with the likes of potassium chlorate. Anyway, history lessons aside, I went to the woods, outside to test this powder bomb, can't risk damaging anything in here.

I scanned my surroundings. No trees were surrounding me, just an oval of grass and dirt. I placed the hemp bag in the middle of the area, the sulphur on the matchstick scraped against the igniter on the box. A small flame danced on the tip, my right hand hovering over it, to prevent being put out.

"You know this is my first time using a matchstick?" I told my observers. The flare met with the fuse, already it burned through the string. I lightly spat on the match with water gun, and distancing myself from the hemp bag, while still watching the flare travel on the string. Sunflora held her two leaf-hands together as the fuse was seconds away from touching the blast seed, Shinx's legs limped up and down, waiting for the fuse to meet its end...

A cracking sound escaped the hemp bag, bringing an explosion of black dust clouds, it released the smell of set off fireworks.

"Guy Fawkes be proud." I remarked "Should've played _'1812 Overture'_." Like usual, nobody got my references, but hey, I still do them, cause why not? "Anyway, what do you think? Ten out of ten?"

"Oh my gosh, that was so cool! Ten out of ten!" Sunflora squealed. _'Okay, maybe you're being a bit too kind. But hey, love the praise!'_

"I plan on making these for the whole guild." I stated. "Chatot isn't against the idea of explosives, is he?"

"I don't think so." Shinx answered.

"Good. Hey, er, Sunflora? You don't mind if I use some of your hemp bags and blast seeds, do you?"

"Not at all." She answered.

"Great. I can't wait to show the entire guild my invention."

Both Shinx and Sunflora left the garden area, which meant I was by myself. In no less than half an hour, I created ten powder bombs (with 200% more blast seed), to give the guild members. On my way out of the gardening area, I snagged a few seeds from various plant beds. From what I could tell from their labels and descriptions, I took three vanish seeds, two stun seeds and two blinker seeds, alongside some small sacks of colours I hadn't used before.

* * *

Four hours had past, and I was back at the meeting assembly with Shinx, fully equipped with food and items. As for the powder bombs, some of the guild members seemed to like my invention, I kept two with me to see how they'd work against actual pokémon. Everyone was with us, not a second late, and thus, no time was wasted for Chatot's announcement.

"I see we're all accounted for." Chatot acknowledged. "Well then, I shall explain the expedition plan.

"First the objective: reach Fogbound Lake."

"Fogbound Lake?" Shinx inquired.

"Correct. It is a lake that is said to be located at the end of Steam Cave."

"How would you know that?" Trubbish questioned, curiously.

"Erm, well... It's perpetually enshrouded by a dense layer of fog." Chatot answered. "As such, it's actual existence has never been confirmed."

"What about Uxie residing there?" Trubbish questioned again.

"Mythology." Chatot quickly answered. "We'll mean to contact the legendary, to warn it of the time thief, should they reside there."

"What kinda nonsense is he spouting?" Zubat muttered amongst his toxic peers. Skuntank shook his head, not understanding what Chatot said either.

"Anyway. We have belief that Steam Cave is hiding within Foggy Forest, hence the name: Fogbound Lake." The macaw pokémon continued. "In order to get to Foggy Forest, we're going to have to pass Mount Horn." He explained. "Does everybody have their maps with them?" We all folded out our maps for Chatot to see. He was given a quill pen from Wigglytuff to mark our maps (being that he was a bird, he had to use one of his talons to hold the pen). He marked two red circles, one on a mountain, east of the Hot Springs, and another one on a row of fog covered trees.

Once he finished marking everyone's maps, Chatot had more to inform. "The markings I have drawn on your maps are the locations of both areas. From Treasure Town, you'll proceed with Mount Horn and work our way up."

"We will encamp at the highlands near Foggy Forest. That will serve as our base camp; we will be sure to make smoke signals, should any of you have difficulty finding us.

"I'd recommend we all split apart too. Travelling all at once could restrict our mobility." The guild all agreed with Chatot's suggestion, Guildmaster Wigglytuff included. "I shall announce those groups now." Chatot noted. "The first group is Sunflora, Loudred, Diglett and Croagunk."

"YOU BETTER NOT HOLD ME BACK!" Loudred warned his group, his face and words directing mostly at Sunflora.

"You should talk!" Sunflora replied bitterly. I guess even after working together to beat triplet ghosts, they're still bitter towards each other.

"The next group is Dugtrio, Chimecho, Corphish, Trubbish and Grimer."

"We're a solid group." One of the heads of Dugtrio spoke... Now that I think about it, which one is Diglett's farther? I probably shouldn't ask.

"I promise to try me best!" Chimecho told her group.

"Hey, hey, likewise." Corphish joined.

"The Guildmaster and I shall travel as a pair." Chatot stated, turning to Wigglytuff. "...That is acceptable, yes?" He asked his superior.

"Awwww?! I have to go with Chatot?!" The Guildmaster whined. I couldn't tell if he was joking. "That's so boooooring!"

Chatot groaned at his master's childishness "Please, don't be difficult, this is a key element of our strategy."

"...Meanie." Chatot shrugged off the guildmaster's laments, and went back to business.

"Our guests, Team Skull should travel independently, I imagine they're capable enough of doing so."

"Chaw-haw-haw. Indeed we are."

"That leaves the final group: Shinx, John and Bidoof."

"We're in the same group! I hope I can keep up. Yup yup!" Heck yeah, the two prodigies teamed up with the Jirachi slayer, nothing can stop this devastating alliance!

"Here's to another year of fun, fun, fun!" Wigglytuff sang.

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered. Even I joined in this time. Nevertheless, this is all for the sake of the time gears. So here's to hope of not getting trapped in temporal paralysis... Yeah!

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

In case anybody was asking why: Craggy Coast will be skipped in the story. I simply saw it as nothing more than a filler dungeon, that's more or less an easier version of a dungeon later found in the story.


End file.
